


Vaultron

by Dragonetgirl



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Addiction, Blood, Drinking, F/M, Fallout, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Ghouls, M/M, Pidge has a thing for vanilla shots, Torture Mentions, drunk, feral ghouls, its fallout so expect a bloodbath now and then, mirelurk, someone almost DROWNS, will be adding tags as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-08-29 00:15:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8468488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonetgirl/pseuds/Dragonetgirl
Summary: It's hard surviving in the wasteland on your own. It's a good thing Keith, Lance and Hunk found each other. Soon joined by a girl named Pidge and a mysterious man named Shiro, the group will have to leave the comfort of their little farm to brave the radiated wastelands of the fallout universe to fight Deathclaws, Mirelurks and ghouls while making some strange friends along the way.





	1. epiloge. the Caravan

**Author's Note:**

> first time writing something and posting it out here,hope those of you who read it enjoy :)  
> and would like to thank my friend CarcinoKattastic who has had to suffer through some very long chapters that i write...

‘Shiro! Come look at this!’  
Shiro glanced up and saw Matt pointing excitedly to a small plant with wide sickly green leaves covered in reddish blotches, that was growing out of a rock. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and jumped down from the wagon, trudging over to see what had gotten Matt so worked up.  
‘Look at it Shiro! It shouldn't be growing out here this far into the wastes but there it is!’ Matt crouched down and stroked one of the plants leaves, watching as it curled back from the light brush of his fingertips.

‘I think you’re a little more excited about rock weed than I am Matt,’ Shiro said with a small smile.  
‘Dad said there would be some amazing things to see out here, and I’ve barely touched the surface!’ Matt clearly wanted to get up, run off and discover what this world had to offer him.  
‘Someone say something about me?’ an older man approached the two and tussled Matt’s already messy hair.  
.  
‘Dad look at this’ Matt stroked the plants leaves again and they curled back but this time emit a foul smell. All three of them stepped back quickly and downwind of the plant.  
‘Matt sometimes you should stop and think before you do things…’ Sam Holt said, fixing his son with a stern glare. The glare didn’t hold long before it turned soft once more and he gave a small chuckle, ‘can’t say I’ve come across that plant before though, good eye Matt.’  
Matt beamed at his dad’s praise and sauntered off to look for more oddities growing from the rocks.

‘Don’t go too far now!’ Sam called out, a feeling of pride filled him as he watched his son walk away.  
Matt waved over his shoulder and disappeared round the side of one of the wagons.  
‘Shiro, you all set for the night?’  
Shiro nodded, ‘yeah have men on shifts every 2 hours and we’ve set up that small turret we picked up from our last village. This area generally quite so we shouldn't have to worry about any bandits, maybe a rad roach or two. Or a mole rat if you're lucky.’  
‘Urh I could do without those mole rats. Took us the whole day to get that wagon out of the holes those critters dug.’ Sam rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ‘though I wouldn't mind something to eat that wasn't dried up and salted.’  
‘You and me both old man,’ Shiro chuckled.  
‘Old man? I can still take you on in a fight!’ Sam did a few mock punches at the air, before dropping his hands to his sides.  
‘To be perfectly honest with you Shiro, I could do without the worry of what's round the next corner every day’

Shiro looked at the older man. The sun was setting and the last beams of light washed over Sam Holt’s face, colouring his greying hair a fiery red.  
‘That's just the way the wastes are Sam… You have to fight every day just to get by,’ Shiro leant his back against a wagon, ‘But Sam you’ve got a good life, you have family and a great little community that’s pretty well protected from how I see it.’  
Sam allowed himself a small smile, ‘yeah, I do have a home to go back to, and I’ve got a few more things to add to the armoury! Katie will be delighted with the tech we found this year.’ Sam could just imagine his daughter’s and wife’s faces when their caravan rolled through the front gates of their little community.  
‘I wonder how much she’s progressed on that power Armor of hers…’

There was a sudden shout from one of the sentries that snapped Sam out of his musings.  
Shiro jumped up and with a practiced leap was on the back of the wagon, scanning the area. The wagons were parked in a small semi-circle with the open end facing a cliff, the barhmin tethered not far away and munched contentedly on their cuds. The wasteland, dotted with small boulders and stubs of broken trees, spilled away from their camp.

‘Report!’ Yelled Shiro

A sentry ran to him slightly short of breath, ‘I thought I saw something…’  
‘Where?’  
‘Up there,’ the sentry pointed up to the sheer cliff face that rose behind them.  
Shiro peered at the rock walls, but couldn't make out any sinister movements, and as the sun set further the walls were quickly blanketed in darkness.  
‘Maybe it was just a shadow after all,’ said the sentry with a shrug turning to leave.

Shiro remained standing, his eyes swept the area in front of the wagons several more times before hopping down.  
‘What was that about?’ Asked Sam  
‘Jumping at shadows it seems,’ said Shiro with a shrug, still feeling that something wasn’t quite right.  
‘Hum guess you boys have been at it longer than me,’ Sam stretched his arms over his head and added, ‘too long out here is enough to put anyone on edge, will be glad to be home soon.’  
‘Just a few more weeks and you’ll be home safe and sound Mr Holt.’  
Sam chuckled at Shiro's serious look.  
‘Don’t jinx it now Shiro. But some home cooking would really hit the spot right now.’ Sam placed a fatherly hand on Shiro’s shoulder ‘You're always welcome at ours you know?’  
Shiro glanced at Sam, not quite knowing how to accept his genuine hospitality, he was saved from having to answer when the cook yelled that the evening meal was ready.

Everyone sat around the fire, swapping stories with one another, the older caravan guards retelling tales of grizzly encounters with bandits and raiders, super mutants and even a few of a yao guai bears and one of a deathclaw.  
Shiro ate his food quietly, answering a few questions here and there. He watched as Matt’s eyes grew larger with each new story. It was the kids first time out in the wastes and everything was exciting and new for him. Shiro wished he could feel the younger man's excitement, but old scars ached when some of the fireside stories touched too close to home for him.  
He finished his meal and grabbed some extras for the sentries before excusing himself.

‘Oh Shiro it's just you, bring any of that slop with you?’  
‘Hey Mark, don't let Lester hear you call his food slop or you might find something in your next meal.’  
Shiro handed over the plate to Mark who snorted in laughter.  
‘Yeah but then there might be actual meat in there!’  
Shiro chuckled and leaned against the rock that Mark was perched on.  
‘Any signs of movement?’  
‘nothing, all is quiet. A little too quiet if you ask me...’  
Shiro nodded and pushed himself off the rock  
‘You still have that night vision scope?’ Mark pulled the scope out of his pocket, ‘Good, keep it handy.’  
Mark clipped it to his rifle, ‘You're not expecting anything, are you Shiro?’  
Shiro looked up at Mark's face, the campfire just barely flicking over it from this distance.  
‘You can never be too careful in the wastes,’ he said before heading back to camp.

‘Shiro, Shiro! Wake up!’ someone was shaking Shiro roughly by the shoulder as he lightly slept.  
‘What is it?’ Shiro was awake almost instantly. Mark was crouched by his sleeping bag looking worried.  
‘I saw movement up on the cliff again. Certain of it this time.’  
Shiro hurriedly got out of the sleeping bag and reached for his rifle. Mark stood up and glanced around, no one else was awake at this hour.  
‘Show me,’ Shiro commanded and followed Mark as he lead the way.  
The camp was silent, filled only with the snores and occasional murmurs of people turning over in their sleep. The fire had died down to glowing coals overnight. The camp was smothered in pale early morning shadows, the sun had yet to peer over the cliff top and chase the darkness away.

Shiro reached Mark’s rock to find him peering through a scope up at the cliff.  
‘There!’ he hissed suddenly pointing upwards, back in the direction they had come.  
Shiro squinted at the top of the cliff but couldn't make out anything unusual about the jagged protrusions decorating the cliff top.  
‘Mark are you sure you saw something?’ Shiro sounded sceptical ‘it could have just been-’  
‘There it is again! Look here!’ Mark shoved the scope into Shiro's hands and pointed again.  
Shiro raised the scope to his eye and searched the cliff top.  
It was lined with jagged rock protrusions, that looked almost black as the sun slowly rose behind them. His eye was drawn to a particularly large rock that was almost directly above where the caravan was parked. It was a lucky thing it hadn't fallen over in the night or there would have been…  
Shit.  
It moved.  
Shiros yell of warning woke the light sleepers. The falling deathclaw woke the others.

Shiro charged back towards the wagons, Mark close behind. The deathclaw roared and swung its arms swiping at the half-awake people. Screams sounded, followed by sickening crunches, as bodies that were flung through the air landed in crumpled broken heaps.  
‘Get away from the wagons!’ Yelled Shiro.  
The brahmin had broken their tethers and were stampeding about in terror, one ran through the fire, the coals spilled out in a rush of sparks briefly lighting up the deathclaw in a blaze of red.  
The brahmans trailing tether dragged through the fire and flames licked up the oily rope. The panicked brahmin ran headlong into one of the wagons flipping it over with a crash and spilling the contents. Barrels of oily liquid split and sloshed over the floor, the glowing coals scattered about quickly burst into roaring flames and soon the whole camp was ablaze.

The deathclaw screamed and lunged forward snatching up some unfortunate soul and biting them clean in half.  
The person’s legs kicked weakly for a few seconds before the deathclaw dropped the two halves and stalked forwards.  
Some of Shiro's men had made it out and were shooting at the creature, their bullets seemed to bounce off the monsters mottled skin and only seemed to irritate it as much as a fly bite would.

‘Matt! Get out of there!’  
Shiro turned to see Sam Holt, held up by someone screaming in the direction of the creature.  
There was a wagon between them and it, and under the wagon, was Matt.  
‘Shiro!’ Matt screamed, too frozen with fear to move.

The deathclaw paused, it could see the puny weak humans on the other side of the thing in its way but it could smell and hear one much, much closer. With a single flick of its wrist the cart was tossed aside as if it weighed nothing. It smashed into two people unlucky enough not to move out of the way in time. The cart and their bodies broke like matchsticks.

Matt stared up from the ground, white faced, eyes wide as saucers and terrified. The deathclaw leaned down and opened its mouth wide enough to swallow Matt whole. It never got the chance. Shiros dagger suddenly slashed across its face cutting deeply into one of its eyes. The monster reeled back shrieking in pain, clawing at its face.  
‘Go Matt! Now!’ Yelled Shiro, dragging Matt up and practically throwing him away from the creature.

There was an ear-splitting roar and suddenly Shiro was airborne. The force of the deathclaws hit had winded him, and when he smacked the cliff wall he felt as if his head had cracked open. Spots danced across his field of vision and darkness crawled around the edges.  
before Shiro blacked out, he saw the deathclaw leap into the air and take out Mark, sinking its claws into the man’s chest before tossing him aside like trash.

When Shiro awoke, it was to the sounds of voices. He was still slumped against the cliffs wall, a dull ache of broken ribs and a sharp pain of a maybe cracked skull, told him he was alive, if barely.  
He opened his eyes slowly, and saw several people. Four were dressed in odd dark black and purple outfits, one was hunched over. With some shock, he saw that Matt and Sam and few other of the caravan traders were sitting on the floor in front of these people their arms tied tightly behind their backs. None of his own men however could be seen.

Sam Holt seemed to be arguing with the hunched over figure, while Matt was sitting stock still and, even from this distance, Shiro could tell the young man was terrified. Shiro soon found out why.  
The hunched figure held their arm out in front of them and tapped on it a few times, there was something attached to their arm, and then they spoke.  
The deathclaw from earlier rose and lumbered out from behind a wagon where it had been sleeping. It looked as if it had waded knee deep in the blood of those killed last night. Its legs were stained a dark brown colour, as it trotted up the hunched figure.

Shiro gasped in pain and shock at the sight of the creature, lowering its head and allowing its chin to be scratched. His gasp did not go unnoticed, two of the dark clothed figures looked his way and walked over to him.  
Their faces were hidden under hoods and their guns had an odd little purple symbol stamped on them, very noticeable as they aimed the guns at Shiro. One of them spoke with a raspy, almost mechanical sound.  
‘Humanoid lifeform detected.’  
‘Injured, near death, not worth the bullet,’ the other replied, though it was hard to tell as they both had an almost identical mechanical and raspy voice.  
They turned and left Shiro, whose headache was starting to border on nausea inducing.  
There were a few more words exchanged with the hunched figure and the remaining stranger.  
Shiro couldn't hear them clearly, there was a ringing in his ears and everything seemed to be muffled.

‘Shoot the others, they aren't needed.’  
Shiro tried to cry out as the blasts of plasma beams lit up the morning and the smell of ozone and burnt flesh drifted on the wind to him.  
Sam and Matt were the only two seated figures remaining, the glowing ash of their friends settling softly onto their stricken faces.  
The hunched figure waved a hand at them and two hooded figures stepped forwards dragging the father and son to their feet. Hands still tied behind their backs and then prodded to walk forwards, to follow the deathclaw and its handler. Shiro heard Sam say ‘It will be alright Matt’ before the pain in his head grew so intense that stars exploded behind his eyes and he passed out.

 

When he woke again, all memories of that night were gone.


	2. the girl in the power armour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second chapter you guys...  
> things get a little messy

Keith and Lance were eating noodles at a small vendor who had set up shop on a busy market street. The town wasn’t big but it was a bustling hub of activity.

‘See? I told you these were gonna be good,’ said Lance as he sucked up a noodle that slapped him wetly across the face.  
Keith hid a small chuckle behind his hand and picked up a pair of battered wooden chopsticks and with practiced ease shovelled the food into his mouth, not spilling one drop of the soup the noodles were in.

‘Hey no fair, I can't use those twig things like you can,’ grouched Lance wiping his face with an already dirty sleeve.  
‘Not my problem Lance and they are called chopsticks.’  
Lance pouted and turned his attention to trying to copy Keith's skill with chopsticks. Muttering about sticks and where he would love to shove them.

Keith tuned out Lances mutterings and scanned the crowds passing them by. The town was fairly well protected, a few mercenaries and towns folk with small patches sewn onto their coats walked two and fro, keeping an eye out for any troublemakers. But Keith still spotted a few people who looked like someone you wouldn’t like to find down a dark unwatched ally.

Families dotted the market, arguing and bartering with each other. Children, dirty faced but grinning, played some sort of game with a deflated ball.   
Something caught their attention and they scattered, disappearing into the crowds. Keith soon saw why.

A large suit of power armour stomped past, obscuring Keith’s view of the crowds briefly. A small weasely looking man with rad burn blisters across the left side of his face was leading it, saying something like, ‘This way, know who to talk to, good friend Mr M…”

Keith didn’t like the look of him but it was none of his business. Though something that the man had said didn't sit right with him. He kept an eye on the duo as they made their way to the edge of the market before turning down a street that lead to an unwatched part of town. Keith decided to follow them. Lance looked up with a bunch of noodles hanging from his mouth, as Keith stood.

‘Werh yuh gowing?’  
“Just want to check something out. Be back soon.”  
Lance shrugged and went back to slurping down noodles. 

Keith dodged his way through the crowds until he was in the alleyway he saw the guy turn down. There wasn’t many turns and pretty soon caught up to the duo. It sounded like they were having an argument. Keith stayed just round the bend out of sight and while he couldn’t hear everything they said it was clear the guy wanted the person out of the armour as it was too big to fit inside the small shack he was gesturing to.   
Eventually the person in the armour must have agreed as there was a hiss and the back of the suite opened up and a skinny kid jumped out.

The guy just blinked in surprise but he quickly recovered and plastered on a fake smile, and opened the door for the kid who hesitantly stepped through. The man followed, shutting it behind them. Keith didn’t have to wait long before the door opened again and the weasley face man exited scratching at his blistered face, but he wasn’t followed by the kid.

Another man who looked to be a bit more smartly dressed followed him. They both stood by the armour and shook hands. Another man exited the shack and with a few words from the weasley guy, set to work trying to open the armour. The well-dressed man turned and Keith got a good look at his face and felt a cold hatred pool in his gut.   
They had crossed paths before and Keith did not like to think what had happened to the kid who had just gone into that shack.

When Keith returned to Lance he had made up his mind.  
‘Lance we’ve got to go.’  
‘But we still have time for one more…’ Lance began to complain but was quickly cut off by Keith.  
‘Lance…’ Keith lent down and whispered ‘Mr Matthew is here. I just saw him come out of a shack that a kid just went into.’

Lance's eyes narrowed and he stood, tossing a few caps onto the table that were quickly scooped up by their server. He shouldered his rifle and followed Keith through the crowds.  
‘How long ago was this?’  
‘Not long maybe 15- 20 mins tops? I don’t think they expected the kid but that could make things worse.’  
Keith shouldered his way through the crowds, receiving a fair number of curses thrown his way.  
When they reached the winding alleys, Lance pulled Keith to a stop.

‘Listen, I know you can't just leave this kid in there, especially if Mr Mathew is involved but how are you planning to get in?’  
Keith paused. Realising he had no plan.

Lance sighed and rubbed his face, ‘give me something Keith. Who was this kid with, other than Mr M?’  
‘There was this weasely faced guy, had rad burns up the side of his face, and there was some lackey who was trying to get into the armour last I saw.’  
‘I think I know this weasely faced guy… I might have a way in.’

They rounded the last corner and saw the weasely faced man, arms crossed, back to them as he watched the lackey try and fail to crowbar the power armours back open.  
‘Rat my man!’ Lance said loudly with a wide grin.  
Rat spun round sharply at his name but when he saw it was Lance his face cracked a crooked smile.

‘Lance! Long time! What you doing in this little backwater? Looking for a good time?’ He winked and Keith felt like scrubbing himself in soap.  
‘Nah just trying out the local delicacy’ and Lance winked back. Keith mentally added jumping into a rad water lake after the soap scrub.  
Lance gave a whistle as he sidled up to rat, ‘Quite the find you have here. Who you con this time?’

Rat sniffed and tried to puff out his chest in a pompous manner.  
‘Not a con my dear boy, this was given to me fair and square! The owner had no more use for it and willingly offered it as a generous token of appreciation for my help,’ Then his face soured slightly, ‘but the little brat didn’t mention the bio lock on the damn thing. Can't get the blasted thing open without some sort of code.’

Rat placed a hand on Lance's shoulder and leaned upwards to reach his ear ‘And that idiot doesn’t know a crowbar from a pencil’ the lackey in question had started banging on the metal hull with the crowbar

‘Hey! Stop that! Don’t damage it! Why do I even bother to pay you? Keep trying to pry it open, something will give eventually!’  
The lackey spat and went back to trying to loosen the armour.

‘Could give you a hand if you want you know,’ said Lance nonchalantly inspecting his nails.  
‘No offence boy but I doubt you or your grumpy friend over there has enough strength between you to do much better than him.’

Keith’s hands twitched and he took a step forward, but Lance quickly blocked him  
‘What I mean is we could help... persuade the owner to give you the code for the suit.’

Rat rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering their offer.  
‘Well since it's you Lance ok... though I'd keep your pretty friend on a tight leash,’ he nodded at Keith. ‘One of the guys in there has a thing for the dainty ones.’  
Lance gave a strained grin and patted Rat’s shoulder, ‘Not to worry, my pretty friend has me to protect him.’

Rat rolled his eyes and opened the door to the shack. Showing a long winding corridor that ended in some stairs that lead downwards.

Lance and Keith walked in, and as soon as the door was shut, Keith hissed. ‘Protect me? I can look after myself! And how the hell did you manage to get us in here,’ Keith said, half offended half impressed.

‘Needed to make it seem like you weren't a threat. As for Rat, he's a low-level scab that will work for anyone who throws a few caps his way. Been drinking buddies a few times. And boy do I have some stories to tell you that would curl that mullet of yours,’ Lance gives a teasing smile towards Keith, who frowned in response.   
They reached the stairs and glanced at one another.

‘I'll go first,’ said Keith pushing past Lance, who quickly grabbed him pulling him back.  
‘No you won't. Mr M knows you. And we don’t know how many thugs are down there. I go first and work my magic,’ Lance wiggled his fingers at Keith who rolled his eyes, but let Lance start descending the stairs without complaint.

The stairs ended in a metal door with a view slot. Lance banged on it and the little hatch slid open. A pair of eyes peered out at them and demanded gruffly ‘What you want?

‘We are here to help. Apparently, the power armours owner forgot the minor detail of a code. Rat can't get in without it.’

The eyes owner grunted and pulled open the door. There was a single room behind the door with a makeshift kitchen set up in one corner and two doors at either end. The guy they followed nodded to the door on the left wall.

‘The… owner is through there. Not getting much from them, you guys have fun, just don’t damage the goods too much’ he added with a leering smile, before sitting down and stirring a pot of coffee on the small stove. Lance and Keith left him and went to the other door. When they were inside they locked the door behind them. And looked at the small figure before them.

The kids head was hanging down, chin resting on their chest, messy hair sticking out in all directions hiding their face. Ropes bound their feet to the chair they were sitting on and their hands were pulled around their back likely tied up as well. The ropes were the only thing keeping the kid upright but just barely. Their skinny arms were already starting to show blotchy bruises that looked suspiciously like hand prints.

‘Shit’ whispered Lance.  
Keith just stood in silence, his eyes hardened and he made a mental note to make those involved in this pay dearly.  
Lance knelt down by the kids’ side and tilted their face upwards, congealing blood crusted the side of their face.

‘Fuck... Keith the kids not in a good way, you have the spare stims? Keith?’  
Lance glanced up at his partner and froze. Keith had a small syringe in his hand, and it wasn’t a stim pack.

‘Keith no. That guy out there is like ten times your size. Even with psycho it will be a tough fight. Who's to say there aren’t more thugs behind that other door!’  
‘And what do you suggest Lance? You going to talk your way out of this one too?’  
Lance shut his mouth and glared at Keith, ‘You're becoming too dependent on that stuff. One of these days it's not going to work the way you want it to and I will have to pick up the pieces!’ Lance snapped.

Keith blinked at his friends bitter angry sounding words. Lance had been there for him many times, and watched his back. It had taken some time but Keith had started to trust Lance with watching his back.

‘Lance… if I can get this one guy by surprise I can bar the other door. Whoever might be in there will be stuck. It will be fine. And besides,’ Keith help up the syringe. ‘This is stuff Hunk made. You know it's safe.’

Lance didn’t look convinced. ‘I really mean it Keith, you have got to stop using that stuff.’  
‘I will detox after this,’  
‘That’s what you always say,’ Lance smiled bitterly and sighed. ‘I’ll watch your back just hope this one here doesn’t wake up’

The kid was still unconscious, probably for the best since they were about to kill at least one person and it could get messy. No child should need to see that, even if they did live in the wasteland.  
Keith opened the door and the thug looked up before going back to his pot.  
‘What give up already? Too small for your liking,’ Keith gave a small snort and walked up behind him.

‘Not enough meat on that one for me, hope Mr M finds something better next time’ muttered the thug, not noticing as Keith drew back his arm, blade in hand before he ran it through the guy's neck.

The thugs body spasmed kicking out and hitting the makeshift stove, sending burning coals sparking across the floor. Keith gritted his teeth and yanked at blade, slicing through the man's neck. It lolled sideways and dangled still attached by some skin and tendons before the thugs’ body fell backwards with a thump.

Keith spat on the body lent over it and grabbed a plank of wood from the small pile by the stove and turned to the other door only to find it open and Mr Mathew standing in it, with a small silver gun pointing directly at Keith.   
Why hadn’t Lance done something? Why hadn’t he been warned?

‘I go to relieve myself and find you here. Well isn’t this a surprise. Didn’t know you were still living,’ Mr M walked closer to Keith but kept just out of range of Keith’s blade. ‘Hum the wastelands have been reasonably good to you I see,’ he cast his eye up and down and Keith wanted to rip them from his head.

‘I always wondered what happened to you after that little incident.’  
Keith sneered at Mr M. ‘There was nothing little about it, that fat creep got what he deserved.’  
‘Now now, is that any way to talk about the people who fed and clothed you?’

Keith could feel his fury bubbling up. The psycho was still in his system, if he timed it right he might just be able to get to Matthew before he fired a shot.

‘Ah ah’ Mr M tutted seeing Keith shift his weight getting ready to spring, ‘I don’t think so.’ And he cocked his gun.

Keith would never be able to make it. He knew the man was a fast shot and he would be swiss cheese by the time he got to him. Keith snarled but backed down.

‘Now there's the obedient little boy I remember. Really Keith, you’ve forgotten your manners out here in the wastes.’  
‘I'd rather be out there than near you any day.’  
Mr M gave a sad frown and shrugged then shot Keith in the leg. Keith yelled in pain as he crashed to the floor.

‘You had the potential and the looks but I guess you were too weak’ sneered Mr M his face twisting in derision, ‘you cost me some good clients that day boy.’  
He held the gun up, ‘I do hate putting down puppies but sometimes you have to get rid of the disruptive ones.’

‘OY! Prick!’

Mr M looked up startled, he hadn’t realised Keith was not alone. Lance's first shot hit the hand holding the gun, the second hit him in the chest sending him stumbling backwards into the wall. He slumped down it leaving a stripe of blood drawn on the walls grimy plaster.

‘Sorry Keith!’ Lance ran to Keith and helped him up to sit on a chair and checked his leg. Keith hissed when Lance pressed a gauze and stims to it. He thanked whatever god of psycho there was because it was just a scratch and the bullet had just grazed his leg, not cutting too deeply.

‘Gonna have another scar but not much we can do about that.’  
‘Lance where the fuck were you, thought you had my back.’ Keith tried to keep the hurt out of his voice.  
‘I did... but the kid woke up after you stabbed the big guy. Hey you can come out now!’

A tangle of light brown hair peered around the doorway and the kid stepped through to the room there was bandage now wrapped round their head.  
‘Why did you help me?’ They asked, taking weary steps to stand in front of them.

Keith and Lance glanced at one another and Lance shrugged, ‘mister virtuous here,’ he said jabbing a thumb at Keith, ‘can't leave kids in the clutches of evil.’  
The kid gave a snort, ‘um I'm not a kid but thanks anyway.’  
Lance frowned, ‘What are you then? You look human’ his eyes widened. ‘You're not one of those synths some folks talk about, are you?’  
‘No! I'm just a bit older than you probably think… I'm twenty-two,’ the not kid gestured to their body, ‘this is a side effect of some rad blast my mum had when pregnant with me. Stopped growing at about fourteen.’ then gave a small shrug ‘I’m Pidge by the way’

Keith had seen this before but Lance was practically gawping.  
‘So like you're Peter Pan?’ Lance said, suddenly very excited.  
‘Who?’ Pidge raised a brow in confusion.  
‘Peter pan! He never grows up! It was a kids story from before the war. I think I've still got a copy stashed at the farm somewhere. I’ll lend it to you.’

Pidge frowned, ‘I've just met you and your offering me books? Who are you?’  
Lance stuck out his hand.’ Name’s Lance silent and violent here- ow- is Keith.’  
‘Pidge’ said Pidge and hesitantly shook Lance's hand.

Lance grinned and stood up, he was nearly two feet taller than Pidge.  
‘Right let's get out of here. Oh, but first.’ Lance hopped over the dead thugs’ body and dropped down next to Mr M and pushed aside his coat.

‘Lance what are you doing?’ asked Keith looking in distaste at the man on the floor.  
‘Getting what I am sure is a hefty sum of caps... ah here it... SHIT!!’

Mr M wasn't quite as dead as they had thought, his hand had grabbed Lance's arm and caused the lanky man to fall backwards onto his butt. Mr Ms grip was weak and Lance easily pulled his arm away.

‘Shit thought the fucker was dead!’ Sputtered Lance backpedalling quickly across the floor, a small bag clutched in his hand. Mr M’s head lolled round so his eyes fixed on Keith who had jumped up at Lances shout.

‘K... Keith… my sweet boy…’ he coughed, blood bubbling on his lips. ‘Help me... help your master like the good little dog you are, why don’t you…’

Keith didn’t let him finish, in one quick movement he was in front of the man and swinging his blade. Mr M’s head bounced once and rolled away. Coming to a rest against the still open bathroom door.  
Pidge gave a small squeak and Lance hissed.

‘Come on. Let's go,’ Keith wiped his blade on Mr M’s jacket and headed for the stairs.  
Once they were outside again, Pidge hiding just inside the shack, Rat came up to them instantly, a hopeful glint in his eyes.  
‘Hey Lance! Did you get the codes?’  
‘Nah got something better,’ Lance tossed the small bag at Rat who caught it looking surprised.

‘Change of plans, now get lost,’ Lance glared at Rat who weighed the bag in his hand. Rat shrugged and pocketed the bag before turning to the lackey who looked like he was trying to pull the helmet off the power armour  
‘Oi! Let's go.’  
‘But boss I'm nearly there I swear...’ The lackey moaned, taking a small step back from the armour and frowning.  
‘I said we're done here.’ Rat snapped, cradling the bag of caps close to his chest.  
The lackey grouched about having wasted his time but jumped down and followed Rat as he hurried away. Soon they were alone.

‘Ok Pidge you can come out now’ called Lance softly.  
Pidge darted out of the shack straight to the power armour and keyed in a code. With a hiss the armour opened up and Pidge climbed in quickly. The back shut, with another soft hiss, and the eyes lit up a dull green.

‘Ok thanks for everything but I had better leave,’ a mechanical voice said as the armour turned to walk away.

‘Yes you should but you're coming with us,’ Lance said, turning in a different direction.  
‘I’m what?’  
Lance crossed his arms with a smug smirk, ‘You're coming with us.’   
The armour turned towards him and took a menacing step forwards.  
‘And what makes you think I will?’  
‘because we know the way out’  
‘As do I’  
‘And we can get you past the guards, who will probably wonder why a power armour suit is being piloted by a ‘child’ ‘  
‘I've already told you I'm not a child’  
‘We know but Rat and his lackey don’t and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. And one of them has probably blabbed already. Word spreads quickly in these parts.’ Lance's face hardened and he leaned forwards looking the armour in the eye. ‘If you're with us no one will bother you.’

The armour started down Lance for a few seconds before pulling back and sighing. ‘I guess I’ve not got much choice.’  
‘Right follow me!’ Lance spun on his heel and trotted off merrily whistling a tune.  
‘Is he always like this?’ Pidge asked Keith who walked beside her.  
‘Most of the time yeah.’  
‘His cheerfulness must get annoying.’  
Keith watched as Lance walked in time with his whistled song, a small bounce in his step, ‘Sometimes, but he grows on you’  
‘So does fungus.’ deadpanned Pidge  
Keith snorted and followed closely behind the power armour as they made their way into the crowds of people

Lance nodded casually at some guards who eyed the power armour suspiciously.  
They made their way out of the crowds and to the town gate. Nobody stopped them and soon they had left the town. Once they were safely away from the town pidge turned to them.

‘Ok thanks for all your help but I think we should split now and go our separate ways’  
‘Aww but I thought we bonded’ whined Lance pouting  
‘The only thing we bonded over was the bandage bound round my head’

‘Look Pidge’ Keith cut in as Lance looked like he was about to start complaining. ‘I don’t know what you're doing out here but we just killed someone, and there's bound to be someone who's going to come after us, and you, because of it. So, you can either leave and fend for yourself, or stick with us and lie low somewhere safe for a while.’  
‘What kinda place could be safe out here’ grumbled Pidge.  
Lance grinned. ‘Lion farm is where we are headed. Also, have that book there I can give you.’  
‘Lion farm… ok I'm coming with you’

Lance and Keith were both surprised at how quickly Pidge agreed.  
It took them nearly the whole day to reach Lion farm.   
As they approached a pair of turrets whirred to life and focused on them.

‘Huuunk’ Lance called out coming to a stop.  
A small speaker attached to one of the turrets crackled and popped and a tinny voice replied.  
‘Hey Lance, Keith, who's your new metal friend?’

Lance jerked his thumb at Pidge, ‘This here's Pidge, rescued them from the clutches of evil.’  
Hunks voice laughed, ‘cool you'll have to tell me all about it, you guys pick up some of the things I asked for?’  
Lance jiggled a bag on his back ‘got them and then some, show you when we get in’

The speaker switched off with a pop and Lance walked up the path, closely followed by the others. The turrets tracked their movement for a bit then swung back round to point down the path they had just walked up.

Hunk was waiting for them outside his house, he beamed and grabbed Lance in a bone crushing hug.  
‘Hey big man, ya miss me?’ gasped Lance. Hunk guffawed and let go of Lance who staggered back a step before regaining his balance.

‘Got you the parts you wanted, and a few circuit boards’ said Lance holding up the bag of parts.  
‘Lance you’re the best, will be able to use these to add some more turrets, been having trouble with mole rats again.’ Hunk crinkled his nose in annoyance, ‘they got into the melons the other day.’

‘Aw what! I was looking forward to those melons!’  
‘Don’t worry Lance I saved a few for when you were back. Keith I've also got some blueprints for that blade of yours if you want some mods.’  
Keith nodded ‘I'll have a look at them later, thanks hunk.’  
‘No problem man.’ Hunk turned to the Pidge who had been silent the whole time.

‘So your Pidge, right? Neat power armour, what is it… an X-01?’  
‘Yeah. my… dad found it. I fixed it up’  
‘Nice, you've done some good work on it’ hunk said nodding, giving the suit a look up and down with approval.

‘Ugh don't get him started on the mechanical talk’ groaned Lance  
‘Pidge why don’t you come out of there and we can all get some food. You guys must be starving’ Hunk glanced at Keith and Lance, Lance nodded his head vigorously.

‘Come on Pidge you’ve not lived till you’ve tasted hunks cooking!’ Lance said, he was already walking towards the house, desperate for food.  
Pidge seemed to hesitate for a second, but then with a hiss of pneumatics the back opened and Pidge climbed out.

Hunks eyes widened when he saw Pidge, ‘No way’  
Pidge fidgeted from one foot to the other. ‘Hi err. Hunk...’  
‘Hah! You must be Matt’s little sister. You look just like him!’  
‘Wait Pidge is a girl?!’ shouted Lance from the doorway.  
‘Wait you've met Pidge’s brother?’ Keith asked looking shocked.  
‘Yeah! Matt and his dad used to come through here time to time. Her dad helped set up some of the systems I use too.’

Pidge gasped and ran up to Hunk grabbing his shirt ‘When did they come here? When was the last time!?’ Urgency filled her voice as she tugged at the shirt.  
‘It was maybe over a year ago...?’ hunk glanced down at Pidge a worried frown forming on his face. ‘Pidge. what were you doing out here...?’ Pidge let go of hunks shirt and stepped back head hanging so her fringe hid her eyes. 

‘My dad and brother have been missing for about a year… I was looking for them.’  
‘Oh Pidge, I'm sorry.’ Hunk reached out and when she didn’t resist, gently pulled her into a hug.  
‘Come on let's get some food in you. Pretty sure your mum won't be pleased if I don’t at least offer to feed you.’  
Pidge gave a small chuckle and followed Hunk inside.

Lance grabbed Keith's arm as he passed. ‘How is Pidge a girl?’  
‘How are you so dense?’ Keith said looking Lance in the eye.  
Lance gave a huff and went after Hunk who was already spooning out a thick soup into cracked bowls.

Hunk shoved a hunk of bread at Pidge and carried the bowls through to the living room.  
As they sat around the old scratched coffee table, Lance and Keith swapped stories of past adventures, trying to one up each other on the action involved. Hunk laughed at jokes Lance cracked and at Keith's blank expressions.

Pidge watched them and almost felt like she was back home, back when her dad and brother would argue over what component was best suited for the job, and her mum would try and break up the discussion but would eventually give up and just let them argue away. Pidge would listen and add her own opinion here and there. But mostly she watched and scratched behind the ears of the family dog.

Pidge yawned and hunk noticed her drooping head.  
‘Hey Pidge there's a spare mattress on the floor upstairs, blanket too if you need it.’  
Pidge blinked, surprised he had even offered her a place to sleep. She hadn't had much in the way hospitality recently.

‘Thanks.’ she got up taking her bowl through to the kitchen sink before heading upstairs.  
The mattress was in a small room to the side of the house, two other doors led to rooms, that looked already claimed, and the fourth door led to a small bathroom.

Pidge plopped down on the mattress and rolled over clutching the blanket tightly… she hadn’t been out in the wastes on her own for very long, but falling asleep out there was still a scary prospect. Maybe it was the combination of a full stomach of the soft sound of conversation downstairs, or the simple fact she wasn’t sleeping on a hard-rocky surface, Pidge’s eyes closed and soon she was fast asleep.


	3. ghouls and mirelurks and psycho oh my

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance go for an unexpected spelunk in a ghoul infested old building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys little late with third chapter, was busy last few days and didn't have time to upload on Friday like normal.  
> any comments about how you think this is going would be greatly appreciated :)

‘Well this looks promising,’ Keith said gazing with more than a little apprehension at the building before them, ‘you sure this was the place Hunk said?’  
Lance looked offended, jokingly placing a hand on his chest, ‘when have I ever led us to the wrong place?’  
‘There was that time with the mole rats,’ said Keith not missing a beat, and began ticking off occasions on his fingers, ‘and that other time you fell down the ravine, and the rad scorpion nest, and...’  
‘Ok ok fine, I've messed up once or twice!’ Lance ignored Keith eyeroll, ‘But I'm certain, ‘ and he pointed at the building in front of them ‘that building is the place we have to be’

The building in question, was a sorry sight. One half was buried in mud and rockfall from a landslide, the other half was partially submerged in a lake, the whole thing looked a little skewed. The bits that weren't buried or drowned, looked burnt out and dead.

‘Lance, it doesn’t look like we are going to find anything in there, the place is derelict!’  
‘Pidge detected something coming from there and thought it was worth investigating.’  
‘Why isn’t she here then?’  
‘Something about needing to fine tune her Power armour and wanting to see all of Hunk’s defences he's rigged up. Also, the green house? I don’t know she was babbling,’ Lance sighed in frustration, having a power suit would make supply runs like these a breeze, ‘Also hunk had some old schematics of this place lying around. Don’t know where he got them, and he seemed pretty interested in knowing if there was still some tech in there.’

Keith eyed the unsound looking structure, ‘doubtful anything is still working in there.’  
‘Well there only one way to find out,’ said Lance and he strode forward.

Keith hurried after him, drawing out his trusted rusting Shishkebab, making a quick mental count of his weapons fuel reserves and gear, and the chems he had stashed in his back pocket. A stash that Lance didn’t know about.  
As Lance approached the building’s front doors he began to hesitate, and pulled out a favourite pistol of his with a blue handle and held it out ready  
Keith kept an eye on the burnt looking walls with shattered windows, Lance focusing on doors in front of him.

When they were a meter away, there was a metallic screeching noise that made both of them jump. The building’s old doors jerked and slid painfully apart, one didn’t make it more than a few inches before it ground to a halt. The other slid back, then fell out of its mangled frame with a crash. The sound echoed through the building and a reply came whispering back. Lance’s hair on the back of his neck rose.

‘That doesn’t sound good’ he muttered.  
‘Lance? Should we still go in?’ Keith didn’t look unnerved but Lance could tell by now that his partner was putting on a brave face. Lance wasn’t about to let Keith see him chicken out.  
‘Yeah, keep going but keep on alert, sounds like feral ghouls in there.’

Keith nodded and gripped his sword tighter. Lance desperately wanted Keith to quit using that ancient thing, guns were far better he argued, but Keith was adamant that he would use the aging blade, saying it ‘just felt right’. Lance had to admit that having Keith fight in close quarters with the swords fiery blade had proven handy many a time, but Lance would have preferred not to be singed and to take the aggressor out before they were close enough that he could smell their putrid breath and unwashed stink.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Lance carefully stepped inside. A crackly sputtering greeting played out over the remaining speakers. And it suspiciously sounded like ‘greetings intruders.’

Glass crunched and popped under his feet and he winced, listening for sounds of movement. When there were none he motioned forward with his hand and headed down a passageway that looked the least likely to collapse. For several minutes they crept through the building, pausing at every doorway, glancing in every room. Nothing. Just a sea of rotting desks and metal filing cabinets.

‘The tech must be on another floor,’ muttered Lance.  
‘Great let’s just go find an elevator shall we?’  
‘Yeah good idea’ said Lance.  
‘Lance… Does it look like this place would still have working elevators?’  
‘It had working doors didn’t it’  
‘Yes…had. They broke.’  
‘At least they tried, unlike you Mr negative.’  
Keith bristled at Lances jab but kept his expression stern, ‘Lance…’  
‘Look all we need to do is have a look around, in and out simple. Just keep an eye out for any ghouls,’ Lance said shrugging his shoulders, we have to bring back something or Hunk will think we chickened out. You don’t want to disappoint Hunk now. Do you Keith?’ Lance made big sad eyes at Keith.  
Keith’s ears tinged pink and he turned away from Lance, ‘Fine… let's keep looking for a few more minutes.’  
‘Yes! All right,’ Lance did a little victory fist pump.

Keith rolled his eyes and headed back the way they had come. ‘we can try the other corridor in the main reception, just have to hope it's not flooded. Lance?’  
Lance padded up to Keith's side ‘we could see if the elevators are working first?’  
‘I told you Lance nothing in here would be safe enough to use.’  
‘Aww spoilsport’, Lance stepped away and headed to the reception area, he looked over his shoulder back at Keith’ hey Keith what do you think are the chances we…’ Lance's words cut off when the floor he was walking on caved in with a crack.  
Dust and debris showered down on Keith, who leapt to the side. When the dust settled, Lance was nowhere to be seen.

‘Lance?!’ Keith knelt by the mound of debris, that now blocked half the corridor, his hands shook as they reached forwards, not wanting to see what lay under the pile of rubble.  
‘Hey!’ A muffled voice, unmistakably Lance’s, came from somewhere underneath him.  
Keith’s hands jerked back in shock and he glanced around, ‘You ok Lance?’  
‘Just peachy… busted my knee on the way down though.’  
Keith pressed his face to the floorboards searching for a crack. ‘Stay where you are Lance. I’ll come get you.’

Keith found a broken floorboard and peered between its edges. He could just make out Lance, not on the floor below him like he hoped but it almost looked like several floors below.  
‘Shit Lance, how far did you fall?’ Keith called, trying not to let panic creep into his voice at the sight of his partner trapped and out of reach.  
‘Dunno, I'm in a pretty open area here though. Looks like there's some stairs over there, going to see if they lead back up,’ Keith saw Lance limp out of his line of sight in the probable direction of the stairs.

‘Hold on, Lance I’m coming,’ Keith said under his breath as he got up and squeezed round the rubble, careful not to break anymore floor boards.

\----

Lance limped his way to the stairs he had seen, his leg throbbed painfully from where he had landed on it. His trousers were scratched up badly, and there was a long gash on his left leg. He had not told Keith about it, no reason to worry him more than needed had been his thought at the time.

There was an elevator but it's doors had been blasted outward and the long drop down didn’t look that appealing to him. He considered climbing up to the level he thought Keith was on but his knee gave a twinge of pain at the thought. So, he turned and headed for the stairs. 

There was just a gaping black hole where the descending stairs should have been.  
‘Only way is up then,’ said Lance through gritted teeth and he painfully made his way up stairs, only to stop with a groan when he reached the turn.  
The stairwell was blocked. With a sigh, he sat down on the top step and laid his rifle across his lap. He had been using it as a small makeshift crutch. 

He pulled out a stimpack and stabbed it into his leg, just above the bleeding gash on his thigh with a sharp hiss.

Slowly, the relief from pain flooded his system and the wound slowly stopped bleeding, it didn’t close up but, the lack of blood soaking into his torn trousers helped. Even his knee began to feel better. He carefully wrapped his leg in some cleanish bandages he had in his bag and tied them off with a tight tug. The sharp pain in his leg was dulled somewhat by the stimpacks drugs still in his system.  
Lance sat back and took a deep breath, letting the stimpack do its work. Soon he was feeling much better, knee still a little stiff but it could take some weight on it now. 

A sound from the room at the bottom of the stairs made his head snap up sharply.  
The room below was mostly empty, save for a few large old sofas clumped in a corner and a dead pot plant in the other.  
Lance held his rifle steady in one hand and pulled out his pistol. Having a faster fire rate here would be useful. 

The sounds came again. A sort of rustling. Lance's eyes zeroed in on the sofas. Something was jerkily raising up from behind one. Several things were. Their twitching limbs and decaying flesh sent a pang of fear through Lance.  
Feral ghouls.

\--

Keith was looking for a way down when he heard the first shots fired, followed by a harrowing moan echoed by several similar voices. Fear pooled in his gut and he ran to the broken-down elevator.  
He had dismissed the elevator as a way down to Lance at first, deciding that if there were stairs down there, there would have been some up here. His search was hindered by a large chunk of roof that had fallen into the stairwell, blocking any way down.

But hearing the rising sounds of moans and gunshots made him reconsider.

Reaching the elevator he tried to pull the doors open, they didn't budge. He took his combat knife from its hidden pocket in his boot and jammed the blade into the thin seam where the two doors met and levered them open. They protested and screeched as rust and dirt rained down on Keith's head, trickling down the back of his collar.

Finally he had made a wide enough gap to squeeze through, glancing down he saw that the elevator box had snapped its cables long ago and had fallen to the bottom of the long shaft. Light spilled into the darkness from an elevator doorway several levels below and sounds drifted up.

Gunfire sounded again and Keith gritted his teeth. He pulled out a small syringe and without hesitation injected the psycho. A rush of adrenalin flooded Keith’s body, and his eyes snapped open focusing on the wire rope cables in the elevator shaft. He leapt forward snatching one mid-air and swinging round. The sounds of groans and guttural shrieks were louder now. Keith slid down the rope and came to a stop just outside the open doors. 

A ghoul saw him and shuffled forward arms outstretched, Keith waited until it was just within reach and grabbed its arms yanking it into the open space of the elevator shaft. The ghoul screamed as it plummeted down, its cry cut off as it broke on the mangled lift somewhere down below.  
He swung himself into the room pulling his Shishkebab from its sheath at his side. He held down the handle switch and blue flames licked hungrily along the length of its rusting blade.

Two ghouls lunged at him, he ducked from ones grasping hands and skewered the other through the chest, the smell of scorched rotten flesh stung his nose. He heaved sideways knocking them down. Yanking his sword out of the ghouls’ chest he brought his foot down on the other's head, it burst open with a wet splat. He went to move towards the rest of the ghouls but his ankle was jerked back. The one that he had stabbed wasn't quite dead yet and with a swing of his arm its hand and head rolled away trailing smoke.

Keith heard Lance scream and saw the man grappling with a ghoul that snapped jagged broken teeth at his neck. Lance was thrown backwards into the railing and it buckled under the sudden weight. Keith saw Lance's eyes grow wide in panic as the railing tore away from the wall and he and the ghoul he fought fell back into the stairwell and out of sight.

Keith leapt forward slashing at the ghouls before him, ignoring the raking fingers snatching at his arms and throat, ignoring the blood that dripped into his eye as a claw slashed his face. When he reached the stairs broken edge, a swath of dismembered slightly smouldering bodies littered the floor behind him. He was breathing heavily and blood dripped slowly from several cuts.

He dropped his blade, the fires fuel now spent, fell to his knees, and looked over the edge. Inky blackness looked back at him.

‘Lance…?’ he called softly  
A cool breeze drifted up and ruffled his hair  
‘Lance? He called again a bit louder.  
Nothing  
‘Lance!’ he yelled his voice cracking.  
His voice echoed strangely in the blackness a hundred Keith's yelling out in the dark.

‘What took you so long?’  
Keith had never been so relieved to hear that cocky bastards voice.

‘Lance! Are you all right?’ Keith gripped the stairs broken edge peering through the gloom trying to see him. A light flickered on and a beam of pale yellow sliced through the black. Lance waved the light up at Keith and grinned.  
‘Yeah, I'm doing ok, the ghoul broke my fall, the water helped too.’  
‘Stay where you are I'm coming to get you,’ Keith called down. He looked around for something to use but nothing sprung to mind.

‘There's nothing up here’ Keith growled slamming his fist against the floor which cracked and sent little chunks of cement tumbling into the darkness, followed by splashes  
‘Hey Keith! Watch it!’ Lance’s angry voice came from the darkness below.  
‘There's nothing up here! I can't get to you!’  
‘What about the elevator? Doesn't it still have the cables in there?’  
Keith’s head was still swirling with the effects of psycho and it took him a few seconds to register what Lance had said.  
‘Shit. Yeah be right back! Don't go anywhere!’  
‘Not as if I can…’ came the muttered response from Lance.

Keith ran to the elevator and grabbed hold of one of the cables, giving it a good hard tug, it was still firmly attached to whatever mechanism there was high above. Keith pulled up the trailing length and pooled it about his feet. When he reached the end he hauled the looped cable over to the stairs.

‘Heads up!’ He called and threw the mass of cable down.  
There was a yelp and a splash.  
‘Little more warning next time!’ Lance scowled, sending a glare up towards Keith.  
‘Can you climb up?’ said Keith, completely ignoring Lances snarky comments  
‘No. Busted my leg up pretty bad… and am out of stimpacks. Think the ghouls ripped the pouch they were in.’

‘Shit, ok I'm coming down,’ Keith said, getting himself ready to descend.  
‘No hurry or anything,’ Lance responded casually, like this was no big deal to him.  
Keith gritted his teeth and carefully began to descend the cable in the darkness. He was about halfway down when a twanging sound echoed ominously in the darkness  
‘Keith... What was that?’ Lance shone his torch up at Keith momentarily blinding him, ‘Shit! Keith move!’

The fear in Lance's voice spurred Keith to move faster. More snapping noises sounded and Keith felt the cable twitch under his hands. He decided that faster was better. He slid down the cable ignoring the burning in his hands.

There was one last snap and Keith felt the rope go slack, and suddenly he was freefalling.  
Keith hit the water and his breath was knocked out of him. He felt Lance grip him by the shoulders and drag him back through the shallow water before the cable piled on top of him.

‘Nailed that landing, ten out of ten for effort’  
‘Fuck… you… Lance’ gasped Keith, the last of the psycho began to fade and Keith was beginning to feel the aches and stings of his recent ordeals.  
Lance grinned happily down at him and pulled him out of the water onto a pile of dry rubble.

They sat there for a few minutes, Keith getting his breath back and Lance just drying himself off. Eventually Lance asked, ‘so… where to now Mr Rescue? Don't really fancy trying to go back the way we just came.’  
‘There must be another way out of here... ‘ Keith pushed himself up to a sitting position, wincing slightly. He fished around in his pocket and pulled out 2 stim packs.  
‘Here,’ he tossed one at Lance who fumbled with it for a second, juggling to catch it with one hand and the torch.  
‘Keith, you should use one too…’ Lance eyed Keith's scratches.  
‘I'll be fine… the chem took most of the brunt off.’  
‘Keith! You shouldn't have used...!’  
Keith held up a hand to cut Lance off from the upcoming argument, ‘Look I needed the extra boost… there were a lot of ghouls and…’  
‘Enough Keith! Look just promise me you won't use it again today.’ Lance glared but his eyes betrayed that he was worried about Keith taking the use of psycho far too casually.  
Keith glared back at Lance. They sat in silence, neither wanting to back down.

Keith caved first and looked away. ‘You know I can't promise that… but I'll try. Ok?’  
That seemed to mollify Lance somewhat but the annoyed set of his jaw did not soften much.  
‘Ok… I guess that's the best I will get from you…’ said Lance weighing the stimpack in his hand, ‘How many of these you have left?’  
‘Just one… forgot to pack …’

Lance gave a small sigh and jabbed the stim into his leg. Lance shut his eyes as a look of relief washed over his features briefly smoothing out the pain and softening the hard worry lines.  
Keith glanced away when Lance opened his eyes and stood up, giving his leg a small shake.  
‘Almost good as new! Good Thing I can't get addicted on these…’ he flinched and glanced at Keith, ‘Sorry.’

Keith ignored him and painfully got to his feet giving himself a quick once over. A few minor scratches but nothing serious.  
Lance shone his torch around, watching it cutting through the blackness, ‘Hey think I found something!’  
Keith heard Lance splashing through the water and give a yelp when it reached his waist. Keith took a few tentative steps forward and the water sloshed about his ankles, then his knees. It was bitterly cold.

‘Lance?’ Keith called he could still see the torch bobbing away in the darkness.  
‘Here we go!’ There was bang and suddenly light flooded the room they were in.  
Keith had thrown his arm over his eyes at the sudden brightness and blinked as his eyes grew accustomed to it. Lance came splashing over to him.

‘Found the light switch,’ he said triumphantly with a cocky smug look plastered on his face. Keith just rolled his eyes at him.  
They made their way carefully through the flooded room to the only doorway they could see that wasn't half under water or blocked. They found themselves in a sloped corridor where the water was only ankle deep. Cautiously they edged down the hallway, checking every room they went past. Most were filled with old filing cabinets but some held more interesting things.

‘Hey Keith look at this!’ Lance had found a large mouldy sheet of some sort of paper and spread it over a table. Keith leaned over his shoulder.  
‘Cool. what is it?’  
‘I don't know but it looks awesome! I’m taking this back for Hunk,’ Lance gently folded the paper up and tucked it away safely in a waterproof bag. Keith looked around and caught a glimpse of something through an open doorway that looked like a chemistry set. Checking the room was clear he walked over to it for a closer look.

The equipment was old, dust covered and most of the delicate vials were cracked or broken. Keith searched the table and found a small safe hidden just under it. With a smile, he picked the lock in a few seconds and the lid popped open.  
Keith’s breath caught in his throat, the safe was filled with chems. 

There were several stimpacks mixed amongst them but Keith's eyes were drawn, almost hungrily, to a particular set of syringes. There was a psycho in there.  
He pulled out the psycho and an odd dust drifted away from his hands as he picked it up. He hid the psycho in his pocket and collected the stimpacks. He stood and turned to see Lance just inches away from him.

‘Keith… What did you find?’ There was a note of something in Lance's voice. Like he was trying to hold back anger. Keith slowly held out his hand, showing the stim packs to Lance.  
‘I found some stims… thought we could use them.’  
Lance glanced down at the stims then back at Keith. ‘That's all there was?’  
Keith kept his face blank and calm, ‘Yeah, just stims.’  
Lance took one from Keith and stepped back giving a small smile at Keith. ‘Ok. You use one now… keep the rest for later.’ He turned and left Keith standing with his fist clenched round the remaining 2 stims. The hidden psycho burned in his pocket.

\---

‘Hey how big is this place? There didn't look like there was nearly this much going on on the outside!’ Lance threw his hands in the air as they found themselves in yet another corridor.  
‘I don't know,’ grumbled Keith, ‘You were the one that said you memorized Hunk’s layout of the place.’  
Lance gave a small embarrassed cough ‘I may have ...err… exaggerated a little.’  
‘What?’  
‘Hunk started going on about his new system he was building to water the plants in the greenhouse and I may have um... Blanked out for a few minutes?’ Lance had the decency to look abashed.

Keith rubbed his face and glared at Lance, ‘You mean to say, I've been following your lanky ass around this ghoul infested death trap, and you don't even know where we are!?’  
‘Hey don't pin this on me!’ Lance threw his hands up in defence.  
‘You were the one who was supposed to know the map of this place!’  
‘Yeah well… if it's any consolation, the layout Hunk had didn't have this whole basement of offices in it!’  
‘How do you know? You could have just forgotten about it when Hunk told you!’  
Lance and Keith glared at each other, then Lance stalked off down the hall leaving Keith to bore holes into his departing back.

Lance hadn't been lying when he said Hunk’s map of the place had not shown the maze of offices. It had shown a few floors only, maybe Hunk’s map was missing some pieces. Lance grumbled to himself as he marched down the hall, not caring if a ghoul jumped him, hell he would be glad of the distraction. Something caught the corner of his eye and he abruptly stopped, the water sloshing about his ankles. A grin slowly spread across his face as he examined what he had found. Oh, he was so going to rub Keith’s face in it.

Lance found Keith near where he had left him. Keith had taken a seat on one of the desks in an empty room. His back was to Lance as he came into the room.  
‘Hey mullet.’  
Keith’s shoulders twitched and he spun round, pocketing something, too quick for Lance to see what it was.  
‘What was that?’ he asked casually.  
Keith shrugged, ‘Some tech I found. Think pidge might have some use for it.’  
‘Uh huh... Well my good man,’ and Lance leaned across the table between them, ‘Guess what I found?’  
‘A way out of here?’  
‘Yes, but also this!’ with a flourish Lance spread the map he had found over the table. It was a breakdown of every floor and the exits were clearly marked. Keith looked stunned, Lance looked smug.

‘Well … well done Lance... You're not as stupid as you look.’  
‘Oy!’  
Keith laughed at Lances annoyed face and hopped off the desk landing with a small splash.  
‘Well what are you waiting for? Any longer down here and my feet will grow flippers.’

It took them longer to find a possible way out than expected. Most of the exits were under water or behind collapsed hallways. Eventually they found themselves in another large echoey room. Metal catwalks crissed crossed the room and were partly submerged. In the centre of the room, raised up out of the water was a mass of cables. They all ran into a single source, that flickered with lights and hummed.

‘Keith, that's a power core aint it?’ Lance's eyes were fixed on it.  
‘Yeah looks like one…’  
‘We’ve gotta get it.’  
‘Wait Lance!’ but Lance was already off.

The catwalks were fairly stable and the water rippled away into the gloom as Lance made his way to the centre. That power core would be something Hunk would really like his hands on. Hell, even Pidge could use it in that suit of hers.

Lance made it to the centre and tugged the core free. There was one last wheezing hum and the lights dimmed. Turning towards Keith, who was halfway on the catwalk Lance opened his mouth to gloat.

Suddenly, a rotting hand gripped his ankle and pulled it out from under him. Lance screamed, dropping the core, and desperately scrabbling for purchase or grip on something. But the floor was slick and the railing he grabbed snapped like brittle eggshells in his hand.

The water swallowed him up, bitterly cold and black. The ghoul clawed its way up to his chest, ragged fingers snatching at his shirt. Lance kicked out and felt his foot connect. The ghoul’s grip loosened enough for Lance to get his feet up and shove.  
He felt his shirt tear as claws were ripped away into the blackness. Lance swam upwards, towards the tiniest amount of light he could make out glittering above him.

Lance broke the water's surface and grabbed onto the catwalk, coughing and spluttering. His eyes stung with the water, just how many rads had he just been dosed with? A pair of legs appeared in his blurry vision.

‘Keith little help?’ Lances ears had filled with water and everything was muffled.  
Hands gripped his shoulders, but they didn't help him up. If anything, the vice like grip they had on him was slowly shoving him back into the water.

‘Keith what...?’ Lances vision finally cleared and an unhinged jaw leered before him. The ghoul’s eyes had rotted away at some point, and from the way its flesh was sickly pale and bloated around its face. It had been in the water for some time. Lance screamed.

Images of his family flashed through his mind, his little sister swimming for the first time. His older brothers and sister waving from the back of a caravan, his mother hugging him. The sight of his small hometown growing smaller in the distance until the mountains hid it from view.  
And oddly Keith came to mind. Keith laughing at some failed pick up line, Keith smiling as Lance shot a target with impossible accuracy. Keith asleep, haIf sprawled over the pillow with the moonlight shining down on him. Lance didn't want to die.

There was yell and suddenly where the ghoul’s head had been, a glinting blade was. The ghoul’s head plopped into the water and sunk out of sight.  
‘Lance!’ Keith’s hands grabbed Lance and hauled him out of the water. Lance was still in shock as Keith tried to get him to stand.

‘Lance snap out of it! We have to move!’ Keith snapped his finger in Lance's face, getting him to at least focus on him. ‘Lance which way do we go?’ there was an urgent note in Keith’s voice.  
Lance shook his head to clear his thoughts. Keith’s face was very close to his. Worry etched into his creased brow.  
‘Um left… no right we should take the first turn right from where we were,’ Lance stumbled.  
‘Ok can you move?’  
‘Yeah I think so.’  
‘Good’ Keith pulled Lance with him and jogged down the catwalk. Sounds that were not the running of feet boomed around the large room.  
‘Keith? What...’  
‘That little stunt you pulled with the power core, I think it let down some barriers that were keeping something out!’ Keith yelled as he hauled Lance along.

They made their way off the catwalk, and up some stairs to thankfully dry ground.  
‘Where to now Lance?’  
‘I think if we turn here and take the main hall to the end of it we should...’ Lance was cut off as Keith clapped a hand over his mouth and shoved him into wall

‘Keith what?’ Lance mumbled round his hand  
‘Shhh!!’ Keith held a finger to his own lips and slowly looked around the corner and paled.  
‘Fuck.’

Lance could hear a steady clicking noise, it grew louder and a heavy clack of something snapping shut sounded.  
‘Keith is that a fucking mirelurk?’ Lance hissed between Keith's fingers.  
Keith didn't move. They stood stock still until the sounds died away, Keith finally took his hand away from Lance's mouth.  
‘I think you just opened the floodgates.’

Lance could have screamed then and there. Ghouls were one thing, but mirelurks? In this rabbit warren of a building? This day couldn't have gotten any worse.

Cautiously they checked the corridor. Only a trail of mud indicated that the mirelurk had passed by.  
‘Ok we keep low and quiet. And maybe we can sneak past them,’ Lance muttered. He glanced at Keith, ‘no fancy moves until we are out of here got it?’ Keith nodded in agreement. 

They made their way slowly own the hallway, pausing at every sound. Twice they had to duck into an office and crouch behind a desk. The clicking snapping sounds drawing near then fading away again. Lance was sweating from the stress. Keith looked pale and haggard in the dim light.

During one of their duck and hides, they disturbed a ghoul, it had been lying behind a desk and Lance had landed on the thing as he vaulted over to get behind the desk. Before it had a chance to fully right itself Keith had tossed it over the side of the desk and into the hallway. There was a horrific scream and a snapping. The mirelurk they had been avoiding had snapped the ghoul up like a twig.

They waited, breath held as the sound of shuffling clicks slowly moved away. Finally, they made it to a stairwell that was marked with a dull red EXIT sign. Grinning, Lance rushed ahead, excited to finally be out.

The stairs led to a small room with barred doors. Between the two of them they managed to pry the rusted bars off. Lance flung open the door to blinding sunlight, and stepped outside, arms raised and turned with a grin at Keith.

‘See! Told you I could...’ Lance caught sight of the movement too late.

A claw slammed into his side and he was flung sideways, scraping across the floor, and knocking his head against a rock. Blearily he saw a large hunched many legged figure scuttle up and loom over him. One claw raised. Lance rolled as the claw slammed down where Lance's head had been.

The clicking sped up in anger and Lance felt something pin him down. One of its claws had wrapped round his waist and started to squeeze, it raised the other claw blocking out the sun. He heard a shout in the distance that sounded like Keith but it sounded so far away. For a second time that day memories flashed in front of his mind, but these were all of Keith this time.

How they had first met. In a rundown little bar, Lance had been looking for a partner to finish off a job, and after a 4th failed attempt to sweet talk the barmaid Keith’s barely hidden short of laughter had caught his attention. They had started a bet about how many rad roaches they could kill in one go. Lance had challenged him to see how many they could take out in the job he was doing.  
The job had been easy and Keith was winning but when the rad scorpion had popped up and pinned Keith's leg, Lance had taken it out with a head shot. Keith had been surprised. He hadn't expected to be saved. Hadn't expected Lance to have his back.  
They stayed together after that, completing jobs together, things became much easier with two people and someone to watch the others back. Hunk had accepted Keith with no problem, trying to feed the skinny man at every opportunity.

Lance remembered the first time he saw Keith OD from psycho. He had been twitchy all day, angry when asked what was wrong. Eventually Lance had gotten him to calm down enough for Hunk to take a look at him. Hunk had quickly mixed up his cure all remedy and administered it. Keith had fought briefly, his mind seeing it as an attack but Lance had held him still. Keeping him from hurting himself and others. Afterwards Keith had collapsed, limp in Lance's arms as his body was purged of the mess of chems. Lance had held him, softly whispering that he would be okay and rocking back and forth until Keith had fallen asleep.  
Lance remembered how he had done the same thing with his older brother when he had come home. Too disturbed to face reality after the super mutant attack that had taken his older brother and sister.  
He had turned to chems until it had been too much. Lance hadn't been able to save him but he had managed to save Keith.

The claw swung down and Lance clenched his eyes shut. Expecting the end, but nothing came. There was a screaming, screeching clicking and something warm splattered his face. The pressure around his torso disappeared.  
Lance opened his eyes to see Keith, teeth bared and lips pulled back in a snarl leap onto the mirelurks back and shove his brightly burning blade straight through the things face.  
The mirelurk tried to dislodge him, swinging one claw and the stump of the other at Keith. Keith paid no attention to the blows and with a wild yell forced the blade deeper into the things head and twisted.  
There was a shudder and the mirelurk stilled. Slowly as if in slow motion its legs buckled and it toppled forward into the ground, throwing Keith over its head and onto the dirt at Lance's feet. 

‘Holy shit man, what the hell was that?’ Lance gasped, his sides were still sore and more than likely bruised by the things claw.  
Keith did not respond.  
‘Keith...?’ Lance reached out a hand but jerked back when Keith bolted upright ‘Keith what… shit.’  
Keith’s eyes were dilated to the point of blackness, sweat coated his brow and he was shaking.  
‘Lance… I can’t…’ Keith ground painfully out through gritted teeth.

Lance didn't think. He grabbed the last stimpack he had and stabbed it in Keith's neck.  
Keith’s eyes rolled upwards and he slumped to the floor. Lance stared at his friend and wondered how the fuck was he going to get him back to Hunk.

One final stimpack courtesy of Keith later, and Lance was hobbling down the road towards Hunk’s farm, praying that no bandits were feeling lucky today and that Keith would be stay out cold until Lance got to Hunk.


	4. unexpected guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets treatment and someone new makes a dramatic appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was actually the very first chapter I wrote... hope it still stands up after all the other stuff I've written since then.  
> as always let me know what you think :) especially on this chapter since its the first thing i ever wrote in years...

‘Lance! Hold him down!’  
‘Hunk what do you think I’ve been doing? I’m trying my best dammit!’ Lance yelled, ‘He’s a slippery bugger though,’ he added through clenched teeth as Keith tried to wriggle out from under Lance who was pinning him to the floor.

‘Keith, buddy, stop that please,’ Hunk pleaded over his shoulder as he mixed something at a chem table

‘Yeah buddy just lie back and let it happen...OW!’ Lance yelped as Keith bit deep into his wrist and nearly threw him off. ‘Keith! For fucks sake stop!’

Keith only glared at Lance and thrashed harder. His hair was plastered to his white face, his shirt was soaked through with sweat and he didn’t seem to be tiring down.

‘Hurry up Hunk! I can’t keep him down forever,’ hissed Lance through clenched teeth, trying his best to keep a grip on Keith’s arms.  
Hunk hummed as he ground something into another bowl and swirled something into another glass vile.

‘Need a hand?’ Came a mechanised voice. Lance quickly glanced over his shoulder then back to Keith as he gave a guttural shriek.

‘Yeah Pidge could use a hand.’ Pidge squeezed through the doorway carefully in her power armour and crouched by Keith.  
‘Just… hold his arms or body,’ Lance clenched his teeth as Keith began kicking his feet, beating an erratic tempo on the old wooden floor boards of the farmhouse.

Pidge placed her oversized mechanical hands over Keith and gently pressed down, careful not to put too much pressure on the man’s bones in case she broke them by accident.  
Lance leaned back still seated on Keith knees keeping them firmly pinned down.

‘Jeez Keith you gave me quite the workout,’ Lance smirked wiping his forehead, his own shirt now soaked with sweat and clung to his back. Keith spat at Pidge as the power armour loomed over him, unmoving and ominous.

‘Huuunk,’ Lance drawled.  
‘And… We are done!’ Hunk swung around with a triumphant look brandishing a syringe filled with a cloudy, dull yellow liquid. Hunk’s homemade antidote, almost resembled a cloudy lemonade they had once found in a bottle while out on a supply run.

‘You need to make a stock of that stuff Hunk,’ said Lance eyeing the syringe.  
‘I know… but I thought Keith would know better than to get hooked again…’  
‘Yeah…’ Lance glanced at the writhing man on the floor with a frown. ‘He would have been fine but that last batch he used when that mirelurk came at us was off or something… but without him watching my back ... I don’t think I would be back here…’

Hunk gave Lance’s a shoulder a squeeze and gave a small smile. ’Yeah he’s done a good job dragging your ass back here in one piece many times.’  
‘Hey!’

Hunk laughed gingerly at Lances pout and stepped up to Keith’s side and knelt down, murmuring softly, ‘Ok Keith I know you can hear me, whether or not you chose to listen isn’t really up to you. You need to hold still.’  
‘Your bedside manner needs work Dr Hunk,’ came a sarcastic reply from Pidge, who was still pinning Keith’s upper body to the floor.  
‘Ok now hold still, this will hurt a lot.’ and Hunk readied the syringe.

Keith, somewhere in his delirious mind knew what was coming and tried to twist away, without much success. Hunk jabbed the needle into his neck and depressed the syringe plunger.  
Keith screamed and arched his back dislodging Lance and toppling him backwards onto the floor.

‘Lance! Hold him!’ Yelled Pidge, pressing harder on to Keith’s arms and shoulders.  
Lance leapt up, quickly, and flung forward, pressing his hands on Keith’s legs. Keith kicked free, landing his boot right in Lance’s face before Lance used his whole body to keep him down this time.

Lance licked his lip, tasting the iron from his blood, ‘Shit Keith keep it together buddy! ‘  
Keith’s legs jerked for several seconds then slowly settled into twitching then nothing. Lance glanced up at his friends face, it was pale but no longer contorted in pain. He looked oddly peaceful. Lance sighed and pushed himself off Keith’s legs.

‘You can let go now Pidge.’  
Pidge lifted her hands, if she flinched at the slowly darkening bruises on Keith’s pale skin it didn’t show under the power armour.

‘Need a hand getting him upstairs?’ Asked Hunk as he busied himself with wiping down the countertop that he had mixed the antidote on.

‘Nah it’s fine, I’ve got him.’ Lance bent down and pulled Keith over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. ‘You guys ok for perimeter checks?’ Hunk nodded and probably Pidge, Lance couldn’t tell under all the armour.

With that made his careful way up the creaking stairs to the top floor and their sleeping mats. Carefully Lance laid his friend on the ratty threadbare mattress. Keith was breathing heavily but was asleep, and would sleep until morning.

Lance paused a moment and just looked at Keith, his face was pale, but colour was already returning, and the shadows under his eyes were darker than normal, a sheen of sweat dotted his face still and his fringe was mussed and straggly. Lance sighed and smoothed his partners hair out of his eyes. And pulled a mostly whole blanket over him. Keith murmured something in his sleep, his face pinching, marring the peaceful look he had before rolling onto his stomach. Lance hesitated then slowly reached over and started rubbing small circles on his friends back. Keith’s face softened and his breathing steadied. He allowed himself a small smile, then quietly lay down next to Keith on his own mattress. He watched the gentle rise and fall of Keith’s chest and slowly his own eyes began to droop and soon he was fast asleep. 

When Lance woke, Keith was still asleep and the sun was peeking through the filthy, cracked window panes. Keith had turned over in his sleep and had his back facing Lance. Lance had rolled onto his back and was staring at the peeling paint on the ceiling. He glanced over at Keith and saw that at some point during the night, his hand had curled in Keith’s long hair at the nape of his neck.

Lance carefully withdrew his hand and sat up with a yawn and stretched, groaning as his joints protested from the previous days extrusions, he needed a drink. Licking his lips, he caught the bitter taste of iron and cursed under his breath.   
The cut he had received from Keith’s kick had closed up but he should get it checked and make sure he hadn’t picked up something gouly, who knows where Keith’s filthy boots had been. With a final glance at the sleeping Keith, Lance made his way downstairs to see who was up.

Hunk was up and sitting at a table by a wall of screens, sipping at some concoction he had brewed. Lance sniffed at the pot that was still on the stove and poured himself a helping into a chipped mug without a handle. He took a sip as he made his way over to Hunk.

‘Hey this is good, better than the last batch.’  
‘Thanks, though don’t ask what I added,’ Hunk said with a small smile, glancing over at Lance before returning his gaze to the screens.  
‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Lance replied with a small chuckle as he leaned against the table, back towards the monitors.

‘Thanks Hunk… for yesterday.’  
Hunk waved a dismissive hand, ‘was nothing, but Lance…’ he glanced up at him ‘Keith can’t keep doing that to himself… one day we might be too late.’  
Lance swallowed and didn’t make eye contact. ‘I know… Keith’s a good guy but he rushes into those situations too quickly… I should have paid more attention to our…I shouldn't have rushed outside without checking the cost was clear first! That mirelurk would never have...’  
‘Lance don’t beat yourself up, Keith must have already been close to ODing when he took that last shot. It must have been a bad mix too from how he was acting…’ Hunk mumbled as he scanned the screens and took a sip from his cup.

‘Just try and keep him from using any pshyco for the next week or so. Let his system recover a little.’  
‘Heh you don’t have to tell me that, we don’t need to run any scavenging trips for a while. You and Pidge should have all the parts that are needed.’

‘How’s our resident sleeping beauty?’ Pidge walked in through the door scratching the back of her head. She made a beeline for the pot on the stove. She wasn’t wearing her power armour this morning and without it her thin scrawny frame jabbed out at sharp angles under the tired fabric of her shirt. She stood on her tiptoes and hunted for a cup in the cupboards above the sink, running her hands as far back into the old worn cabinets as she possibly could.

‘There’s some in the bottom draw on your left,’ Lance offered, tilting his head slightly in the direction of the cabinet.  
Pidge changed locations and found an almost intact mug and poured some of the liquid, from the pot, into it. She joined them at the terminal screens and glanced over the flickering displays.  
‘So how’s Keith then?’

Lance thought of his friends face, pale and peacefully sleeping. ‘He’s doing ok, but I think that last one hit him hard… I don’t think he realised how much he was using…’  
‘No he knew… He probably didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t worry,’ Pidge butted in taking a swig from her mug.

Lance was going to protest but a glare from Pidge shut him up. Despite her petite, and almost childlike appearance she could shoot one hell of a death glare. Lance scowled into his mug and muttered something under his breath.

‘Didn’t catch that?’ smirked Pidge holding a hand to her ear with a grin.  
‘We watch out for each other… I should have noticed something. ‘  
‘Stop beating yourself up man,’ Hunk groaned leaning back in his chair, ‘it can happen to anyone, from what I heard of it , it was a pretty tense situation. You did what you could.’

‘A hoard of ferals… oh and mirelurks did I mention them? One was right on the doorstep on the way out, that one got me good...’ Lance rubbed his ribs remembering the hit he had taken.  
‘You can tell Shay about that if she wants to pick up the pieces, though there wasn’t much left after Keith was done with it…’ he glanced upwards where he imagined Keith was still soundly sleeping. A far cry from the screaming killing machine he had been the other day.

‘Well you just keep him off the chems and he should be fine’ said Pidge.   
‘Yes ma’am,’ Lance gave a small salute  
‘Hey err guys… sorry to interrupt but did you see that?’ Hunks voice broke off Lances salute in a slightly panicked tone.  
‘See what Hunk?’ Asked Lance, turning to look at the screens Hunk had had his eyes on this whole time.  
‘Camera 3 is picking up movement… I think’

All three of them leaned forward and scrutinized the monitor in question.  
‘There!’ Yelled Lance making Pidge yelp and slop her drink down her shirt, she looked up at Lance with another one of her death glares.  
‘Shit Lance warning much!’  
‘I think it’s a just one person… might just be a lost trader…’ mumbled Hunk trying to get the camera to focus and zoom.  
‘He’s not alone… there’s fucking super mutants with him!’ Lance snarled  
‘Oh shit’ hissed Hunk, ‘what are they doing this far inland!?’ He jumped up and grabbed a hunting rifle and a small tablet screen off the desk.

Pidge darted past Lance without a word, no doubt sprinting to her power armour. Lance swore and threw himself up the stairs to get his sniper rifle from his room. In his haste, he accidently kicked the mattress as he picked up his rifle, causing Keith to wake and give a deep groan as he rubbed his eyes.

‘Lance what…’ Keith said quickly, sitting up. His voice was rough and groggy from all the screaming of yesterday and his deep sleep.

‘Keith I don’t care what you say but don’t get up. You’re in no shape to do much. Here,’ Lance tossed a spare pistol onto the bed. ‘I know you prefer blades but keep this close, I don’t think you will need it but you never know’

Lance jumped over a confused looking Keith and ran to the windows. Pulling them open, he leaped over the ledge and landed carefully on the roof.   
He could get a clear shot from here if things got a little too close. He could hear the stomps of power armour and saw the hulking metal figure of Pidge getting ready with a mini-gun. Hunk no doubt was manning his many screens hooked up to turrets and traps that ringed the farms perimeter.

‘Hey Hunk! What do we do about the guy they are after?’ Lance yelled down as he settled behind a small barrier at the edge of the roof.  
‘Try not to hit him but other than that he’s on his own!’ Hunk yelled back.  
‘Rodger that’ replied both Pidge and Lance.

Lance peered through his scope and found the guy, he looked in pretty bad shape, cut and bleeding and smeared with either blood or dirt, he couldn’t tell the difference. The shirt he once wore was in tatters and… Shit his right arm was gone. Fucking mutants. Lance gripped his rifle tighter and counted those he could see.

‘Hunk I’ve got 5 in my sights!’  
‘Ok! The turrets should be in range in 3, 2 ,1 and open fire!’  
Lance saw little flashes spit out of the ground and pepper the mutants. Their guttural roars of pain could be heard even at this distance. The man they were pursuing didn’t even flinch at the spray of bullets and kept doggedly heading to the farm.  
‘Lance what’s going on?’   
Lance looked round to see Keith, pale faced and leaning on the window ledge.  
‘Just taking care of some uninvited guests, go back inside!’ Lance turned in time to see one of the mutants pull a hunting rifle, comically small in his hands, from his back and take aim at the man they had been chasing.   
‘Oh no you don’t,’ Lance fired and shattered the guns hilt, the wood splintered and sprayed into the flesh of the mutant’s hand. It looked down stupidly at its shredded hand and roared, only to be cut off sharply as its head jerked back. Lance’s second bullet had lodged in its eye and blasted out the back of its head. The other mutants didn’t stop to look at their fallen comrade and stormed forwards, the spray of bullets from the turrets mere annoyances.

‘Hunk! They are still coming!’  
‘I know Lance, I know!’ Hunk yelled up from his position as sounds of clanking and rummaging followed, ‘Hmm where was that…’  
‘Hunk!’ Lance yelled as one mutant stomped on a turret in its way, leaving not much more than a flattened metal pancake behind.  
‘AH HA!’ Lance heard Hunk yell triumphantly and saw two large turrets at either side of the mutants path swivel towards them and start firing. These bullets seemed to be doing more damage than the last set. Two mutants went down but the remaining two had thicker armour and couldn’t be slowed.

‘I think we have a problem guys,’ Pidge called, her voice oddly magnified by her suit, ‘We have one more mutant coming up behind them.’  
‘Crap my turrets are either destroyed or out of ammo back there!’ There was a small pause of silence before Hunk spoke again, ‘Lance do u see it?’

Lance swept the path the mutants had trampled through and felt his heart sink.  
‘Guys we have a Suicider!’  
‘Crud,’ Pidge hoisted her mini gun and took aim.  
‘Lance!’ she yelled up, ‘do you think you can slow it down!?’  
Lance swallowed and counted his remaining ammo. 3 shots left… Damn he needed a better supplier, and stop wasting his good ammo in practice.

‘I can try but after three shots I’m out!’  
‘You can do it bro!’ Hunk yelled up at him, filling him with a small amount of confidence in his skill.

‘Ok you got this Lance, you got this…’ he muttered under his breath as he slid the remaining ammo into the gun.  
His first shot threw up a puff of dust as the mutant swerved erratically, dodging behind the other two still standing mutants. His second hit the mutant’s leg but didn’t seem to slow it down. He drew in a breath and aimed one last time.   
A hand landed on his shoulder and nearly made him misfire. Keith knelt next to him and gave him a small smile in apology for the fright. Lance let out a breath he hadn’t realised he had still been holding.

‘Shit Keith you nearly gave me a heart attack!’ He almost wanted to swat at his friend but was grateful for his presence.  
‘But I didn’t, clearly you have stronger nerves.’ Keith joked, looking out towards the approaching mutants.  
‘Yeah well, if we don’t stop those assholes we will be seeing a lot more of my nerves as they plaster them to the walls…’  
‘How many left?’  
‘Three and ones a suicide coming up fast, and I have one bullet left…’  
‘Then make it count and aim to get all three.’  
‘What? Keith this isn’t a game I can just bounce a bullet round and…’  
Keith cut him off with a shake of his head  
‘Lance, just shoot the idiots nuke’  
‘What?... Oh fuck you're right.’ Lance smacked his head, taking aim once more, ‘but… The guy they are after... He will be caught in the blast range.’  
‘Well it’s him and them or us.’  
‘Keith, I know it’s the wasteland, but that’s cold...’ Lance couldn’t help but give a small pout at how cold Keith was being.  
‘Nobody gets an easy ride out here,’ Keith looked at the approaching mutants and sighed.

Lance settled back into position and took aim. The suicider was weaving about and the other two mutants kept shielding and blocking him from view. He grit his teeth and swore under his breath. The warm weight of Keith’s hand settling on his back made him draw in a breath. 

‘You got this man’ whispered Keith, hoping to give Lance that last boost of confidence.  
Lance held his breath and counted the seconds till a clear shot. The man was slowing as the terrain became more rugged, small cracks and banks split the ground, this also slowed the mutants but barely. The lead mutant was slowing, blood was gushing from one leg and spattered the ground with each step. Suddenly it stumbled as its foot sunk into a crevice. The sudden lack of momentum threw its body into the ground with a thud. The suicide stepped round him and into clear view of Lance.

‘Got cha.’  
Lance fired and the bullet flew right into the nuke clenched in its hand. A blast of blinding light washed over the surroundings, and a small mushroom cloud of smoke ash and fire blasted into the air. Lance ducked behind the small barrier and pulled Keith down, closer to him and into the little shelter offered.

The blast wave of dust, heat and roaring noise hit them and debris pinged off the low metal barricade. When it settled Lance glanced up and grinned at Keith, whose hair was a lovely shade of white from all the dust. 

‘Well hello grandpa,’ Lance smirked, barely able to control his laughter,  
‘What?’  
‘Your hair, it’s… Oh never mind,’ Lance huffed and shook his head, scattering dust in a small cloud.  
‘Come on let’s see what’s left.’ Lance sat up and called over the roof.  
‘Hey Pidge! Any movement?’  
‘Nope, sensors aren’t picking up anything, we’re all clear.’

Lance and Keith made their way downstairs. Keith might have looked ok to anyone else but Lance could tell he was ever so slightly unsteady on his feet.  
‘Buddy maybe you can sit this one out,’ Lance moved closer, prepared to catch him in case he tripped.  
‘No I’m fine, stop babying me Lance,’ Keith gave Lance’s shoulder a small punch.  
‘Suit yourself but if you fall down a mole rats burrow you only have yourself to blame!’  
Keith snorted and followed Lance outside.

Hunk was scanning the small handheld tablet checking off the turrets remaining. ‘They did a pretty big number on us guys, we will need to make a few runs for parts soon. But I can fill it with mines for the time being!’  
‘Only you would be excited about mines Hunk. Pidge you give us a hand with the remains?’ Lance glanced sideways at the hulking power armour suit.  
‘Yeah will lend you a- Wait hold up,’ She cut herself off, looking out across the dry fields.

‘What is it?’ Keith asked tensing, his hand flicking to his hip where he normally kept his sword.  
‘I’m picking up movement… there.’ The power armour pointed to somewhere in the settling dust.  
All three of them, not dressed in armour, squinted through the dirt in the direction she was pointed at, Lances sharp eyes spotted the moving figure first.

‘I see it,’ he hissed and pulled out a spare scope he kept in his pocket.

‘Shit, I don’t believe it. It’s that guy they were after, he’s still alive!’  
‘He pretty stubborn if he’s still moving, got to admire the guy’ mused Keith.  
‘Huh he’s stopping!’ Exclaimed Lance, staring through the scope.   
He watched as the man stumbled forward a few steps then collapsed in a heap in the dirt.

‘Pidge! Can you get him back here?’  
‘Um I guess.’  
‘Wait what if it’s a trap?’ Keith asked, holding out an arm to stop Pidge, who hesitated.

‘Dude the guy was running from super mutants with one arm, I don’t think he was playing tag with friends!’ Lance exclaimed, ‘Pidge go now, you,’ he jabbed a finger at Keith and Hunk, ‘follow me.’

Pidge thundered away towards the fallen man while Lance, Hunk and Keith went inside. Hunk swept the small table they had in the kitchen clean of items and busied himself with pulling out the small supplies of meds they had.

‘Lance, why are we wasting our supplies on a guy who might not even survive’ hissed Keith as he and Lance ran up the stairs and collected some old moth eaten blankets  
‘because like you said, I admire the guy for being this resilient,’ Lance grinned as he tore a sheet into strips.

The sound of thudding heralded the return of Pidge. She squeezed through the doorway and gently as she could, laid out the man on the kitchen table.

Up close they could see the extent of his injuries in detail. His right arm was missing up to the elbow and the wound looked cauterized, the flesh rough and singed blackish red. A tuft of white hair, matted with blood from a slash across the bridge of his nose, covered his face, small cuts and scratches covered his body, some fresh others just silvery shadows.

Lance gave a low whistle, ‘Jeezo this guy has seen some action.’  
Keith glanced over at Pidge. ‘Pidge stay in that armour, we don’t know if he’s going to wake up, and if he does, what he will do.’

‘Ok... but do you think he will make it?’ There was a note of worry in her mechanised voice.  
‘Well he made it this far. Don’t see why not,’ said Hunk, ‘Now let’s see about getting the dirt out of that face wound. Lance hold his head. Keith check to make sure there’s no bullet holes in him.’

Hunk set to work on cleaning out the man’s face cut, while Keith checked the man’s limbs and body for any bleeding.  
‘This guy is one lucky bastard,’ Keith said, looking up at Hunk when he surprisingly didn’t find any other major wounds on his body.

Keith saw that Hunk had wiped away most of the dirt and blood that had caked the man’s face and-  
Keith frowned something about this man they were treating seemed familiar.  
Pidge in her power armour had also taken a step closer.

‘No way,’ Keith said quietly, leaning forward to get a better look.  
‘Is that?...’ Pidge whispered.

‘SHIRO??’ Both Pidge and Keith exclaimed.


	5. the scarred man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the new person has some history with Pidge and Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not having this up last week. I wanted to go over it and tweak it slightly and just got bogged with college work.  
> But here is chapter 5! hope you guys enjoy. we hear a little history on some of the characters, yay.

‘Wait, so you two know this guy?’ said a shocked Lance glancing between Keith and pidge.

There was hiss and clanking of metal as Pidge climbed out of her armour.

‘He was with my brother and dad when they went missing’ she whispered under her breath, taking a hesitant step towards the man on kitchen counter.

‘Keith how do you know him?’ Lance frowned as he looked at his friend, noting the shock that was in his grey eyes.

‘We were part of a few clean up ops… He was… The defacto leader in all our raids…’ Keith swallowed. ‘He had both arms then… Shit what happened to him?’

‘Well judging by the burning I would say the mutants wanted to have a snack but kept the rest of him fresh...’ Hunk looked up sharply at the gasps and hisses directed at him, ‘What?’

‘Hunk we know you’re a foodie and all, but that’s just sick,’ spat Keith looking paler than normal.

‘Well we know it’s what they do out here so it’s an efficient…’

‘Hunk shut up please,’ Pidge pressed a hand to her face looking a little green.

‘Ok ok fine just saying.’ Hunk went back to cleaning out the slash across Shiro’s face. Lance was staring at the larger guy in horror as he calmly continued working. 

Keith left the kitchen and slumped down onto an old lumpy sofa in the living room area, Pidge followed him, hesitated a moment then plonked herself down next to him

‘Keith... can I ask you something?’

‘Hum?’

‘Was Shiro… a good guy?’ She quickly added seeing Keith’s sharp look. ‘I mean like he wouldn’t sell someone to the mutants kinda guy… I know we have all done a lot to regret but we aren’t bandits or slavers… I … just want to know…’

Keith rubbed his head and sighed, ‘Pidge... when I knew him, Shiro was a good guy… too good if you ask me… he cared too much about his team and if something went wrong and we lost someone it really cut him up… one of the last missions we did together was a mess, but he got us out of there, as many as he could, I don’t think anyone other than Shiro could have done it.’

‘Yeah... he always seemed like a good guy… I didn’t know him long, he only was with our small town for a few months helping guard the caravans and plan the safest passage… but he seemed like a nice guy.’

Pidge wrapped her arms around her legs clutching them to her chest. ‘The last time I saw them… he was waving along with Matt... who was jumping up and down like an idiot. It was his first time on the caravans for the longer trips…’ Pidges voice cracked and she buried her face into her knees, ‘What happened to them?’ She said with a muffled sob.

Keith didn’t know what to do and awkwardly patted her shoulder as she shook between gulping breaths.

Finally, Pidge calmed down and gave Keith a rueful smile, ‘your comforting methods suck.’

Keith gave her a wane smile, looped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side, ruffling her hair with his other hand. Pidge gave a rare giggle and shoved Keith off, but gave him a small smile.

‘Come on, let’s see how sleeping beauty is doing,’ she said jumping up off the couch  
When they got to the kitchen Keith walked straight in but Pidge hesitated in the doorway

‘Pidge?’ Keith looked back at her, a small frown wrinkling his forehead.

‘What if I find out what happened and... and they aren’t...’ she couldn’t seem to finish the sentence, her body frozen with the fear of knowing what really happened to her brother and father.

‘Pidge don’t think about things you don’t know. It doesn’t help.’

Pidge took a deep breath, steeling herself for what might come and followed Keith through. She stood by his side as they waited for Hunk to step back.

‘Well I’ve done what I can. That cut on his face will leave a nasty scar though… and there isn’t much I can do for his arm, other than give him painkillers when he wakes up,’ Hunk wiped his hands on his shirt as he spoke, once a dirty white, now covered in blood stains, ‘I think he’s going to make it, has to have been pretty stubborn and lucky to get this far.’

‘Yeah losing an arm and a few pints of blood is nothing’ said lance sarcastically, gingerly patting Shiro's shoulder. ‘How long you think he’s out for?’

‘Hum,’ Hunk crossed his arms in front of him, ‘I can’t tell for sure but maybe 3 hours? It’s hard to tell with this guy. I gave him a little something to keep the pain off, so he might be disorientated wakening up.’

‘I will take first watch,’ offered Keith, taking a step forward before continuing, ‘Hunk you probably need to fix the hole in the perimeter that the mutants left, take pidge with you, just in case.’  
Pidge looked like she was about to protest but Keith shot her a glance and added, ‘I will let you know as soon as he wakes up, don’t worry Pidge.’

She gave a small nod and climbed into the power armour that she had left in the corner of the kitchen. Once in it she stomped outside to wait for Hunk to gather up the odds and ends he needed to make quick repairs and restock ammo.

Keith lent against the kitchen sink and looked at Lance who hadn’t left and was now frowning at him.

‘Lance… What’s on your mind?’ 

Lance chewed his lip as he looked between Keith and the unconscious Shiro.

‘How long ago did you know this guy?’

Keith shrugged ‘I don’t know last time I saw him was maybe like three maybe four years ago? It was before I met and partnered up with you anyway.’

Lance still frowned, ‘can we trust this guy? I don’t want to come back downstairs and find a bloody mess with your boots sticking out the middle of it.’

‘What is with people today? Look I trust him ok? And that’s good enough for me, and it should be for you. You, can make your own judgement when he wakes up got it?’ Keith snapped, scowling at Lance now.

‘Hey wow no need to get defensive!’ Lance raised his hands in surprise at his partner’s sudden sharp words.  
Keith looked away not meeting Lance’s eyes.

‘Keith I just wanted to know… not everyone out there is a saint. And besides...’ Lance sauntered over to Keith to give him a small punch on his arm, ‘I don’t want all my hard work from yesterday to go to waste!’

Keith swatted at Lance but a small smile flitted across his lips.

‘Yeah... I guess I have to thank you for that… ‘

‘Thank me? Oh I should record this! A thank you from the great Keith!’

‘Shut up idiot’

Lance grinned at him but winced as his cut lip split open again.

‘Shit, well maybe save the thanks and give me an apology instead,’ He said pointing to his lip with accusing eyes on Keith.

‘Fuck off Lance you deserved that.’

‘I did not! Your boot clearly took aim at my beautiful face! I’m going to get a scar from this I just know it,’ He peered into a cracked mirror that Hunk had nailed to a cupboard above the kitchen sink, giving small dramatic whimpers while Keith rolled his eyes.

‘What’s one more to add to the collection you already have?’ said Keith with a shrug.

‘Humph,’ Lance pushed himself off the sink and started to head for the stairs, he called from the doorway over his shoulder, ‘maybe it’s not so bad, a scar or two may give me a more rugged handsome look, ‘

‘Hah you wish!’ Keith called back. Lance just waved an obscene gesture over his shoulder and left.

Keith listened to the creak and thump of Lance walking upstairs, then turned his attention to Shiro and the monitors of the surrounding area. The monitors could be left to themselves. Pidge had devised a nifty program that would alert anyone to unwanted movement. He could see hunk and pidge moving from turret to turret, fixing and rearming them.

He turned back to Shiro and watched the gentle rise and fall of his old friend’s chest. The man looked a mess, even with the blood cleaned off his face, the rough makeshift bandage across his nose was already grimy and starting to turn dark with soaked up blood.

‘Shiro, what happened to you?’ thought Keith. This was a man who could do almost anything, and yet here he was, reduced to a bloody, mangled unconscious mess.  
Keith watched him and waited.

-

Hunk and Pidge were nearly finished when they heard a shout fizz though their coms. They shared a look then raced back to the farmhouse, worried something bad had happened.

-

Keith had been watching Shiro for just over 2 hours when Lance trotted down the stairs.

‘Lance what are you doing you should be keeping an eye out up top’

‘But I’m thirsty! You drank the last of our water and didn’t replace it!’

‘Lance that was you’

‘No, it…’

Keith glared at Lance and he shrank under his gaze.

‘Ok fiiine. I was hot and wanted something a bit more with a kick to keep me going,’ Lance skirted the table with Shiro on it. Keeping it between him and Keith as he made his way to the fridge.  
Keith rolled his eyes as Lance rummaged around, finally straightening up with a triumphant smirk, holding up a bottle of beer.

‘Hunks not going to be pleased.’

‘What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him’ Lance said and snapped the lid off the bottle with practiced ease.

Lance raised the bottle to his lips and paused, eyes glancing down at Shiro.  
‘Err Keith… did he just...’

Neither Keith nor Lance had time to react as Shiro, who seconds before had seemed comatose to the world, sprung up and socked Lance in the gut.

Keith barely had time to yell into the small com strapped to his wrist before Shiro had jumped off the table swiping up a small scalpel hunk had missed, from the counter top. He grabbed a doubled over gasping Lance around the neck with his good arm, putting Lance between him and Keith. The scalpel blade jabbing into Lance’s throat.

‘Where am I?!’ croaked Shiro

Lance battered at Shiro’s arm trying to pull it away, but Shiro somehow pinned one of Lance’s arms with his own amputated one. He pressed the blade closer to Lance’s neck causing a small droplet of blood to well up.

‘Keep squirming and you will end up with a second mouth,’ hissed Shiro.

He started dragging lance with him as he made his way around the kitchen table. Eyes locked on Keith. Lance went pale and froze, he looked pleadingly at Keith who was frozen where he stood.

Slowly Keith spoke, ‘Shiro, you are safe. Put the knife down.’

Shiro didn’t respond but fixed his eyes on Keith, his pupils were so dilated his eyes were almost black.

‘Shiro, it’s me. Keith… do you remember?’

Shiro shook his head and blinked in pain.

‘Remember we used to work together, we were… friends’ Keith said slowly, not making any moves.

Shiro was breathing heavily and Lance could feel the man’s sweat dripping onto him and trickling down his neck.

‘Shiro, we found you and brought you here. You were hurt. Badly,’ Keith took a small step forward, and when Shiro didn’t back away or press the knife deeper into Lance’s neck he took another.

Slowly he edged forward until he stood just a few feet from Shiro and Lance.

‘Shiro, you are safe here, we can help you,’ He kept his voice soft and calm, as if speaking to a terrified vicious dog.

Shiro was shaking slightly now, Lance feared that the man’s hand might just slip by accident and hit something vital of his.

‘Lance is my friend, Shiro. Can you let him go?’  
Shiro jerked his head from side to side, not wanting to give up the little leverage he had.

‘Ok it’s fine… but… can you give me the knife instead?’ Keith slowly held out his hand for the knife pressed at Lance's throat.

Shiro hesitated, his eyes clearing slightly, he slowly dropped the knife, taking a few more moments before he released Lance.

Lance toppled forward gasping and coughing for air. Shiro tilted backwards, hit the wall, and slumped down to the floor. Keith crouched down by Lance to see if he was ok. The nick to his neck was minor and hadn’t gone deep enough to do any damage. Lance was sure to complain about it for days on end. He glanced up at Shiro who was watching them with half lidded eyes.

Just then Hunk and Pidge burst into the room. Hunk seeing Lance curled up on the floor, immediately ran to check him. Pidge stood between them and Shiro. Her Power Armor hissed threateningly as she levelled a shotgun at Shiro still sprawled on the floor.

‘Pidge it’s ok, I don’t think he’s going to try anything again,’ Said Keith, hoping Pidge wasn’t about to blast Shiro with her shotgun.

‘Let’s hope not,’ growled Pidge, her voice harsh and metallic from her armour.

Shiros eyes had fluttered up towards the power armour when he heard her talk.

‘Pidge you won’t get any info about your family from a cheese board!’ Keith snapped

‘Pi… Pidge...? I know… that name. you...how?’, Shiro’s head lolled forwards before jerking back up, to look hazily at the power armour.

Keith thought he saw the armour tense for a second, then slowly with the mechanical hiss of gears moving, the back opened up, she climbed out of the armour and peered around the arm at Shiro.

Shiros eyes widened in shock when he saw her and whispered, ‘no... Matt..’ his eyes rolled upward and he passed out.

\--

When Shiro woke, it was to the sounds of Pidge and Lance fighting. He kept his eyes closed but could see shapes moving past his eyelids.

‘Did he say anything?’

‘No Pidge I’ve told you, he just leapt up and nearly took my head off!’

‘Lance, it was barely a scratch stop being a baby!’

‘It wasn’t a scratch he had a knife to my throat!’

‘Phhst’ Shiro heard a scoffing noise. Followed by an angry yell from Lance.

‘That’s it you gremlin! Let’s see how much you like it!’

There was sounds of scuffling and Pidge yelling as Lance wrestled her to the floor.

‘Stop wriggling you little rat,’ he huffed

‘Lance I give, I GIVE!’ There was a banging and Shiro imagined the skinny kid that looked so much like Matt, banging a fist on the floor, or Lance.

‘Um hate to break up the moment guys but I think he’s awake.’ Came a new voice.

Shiro opened his eyes and saw Lance and Pidge on the floor, Lance had Pidges face smooshed into the mouldy carpet but quickly jumped up and helped Pidge to her feet.

Shiro shifted on the sofa propping himself up to better see the room. Hunk was standing in the doorway, a mug of something in his hand that steamed. Keith was sitting on the only other upholstered chair in the corner of the room. He sat up when Shiro looked his way. 

‘Keith…’ Shiro’s voice felt dry and raspy, ‘it’s…been a while’

‘Yeah long time…’ said Keith quietly. Keith’s expression was difficult to judge, he didn’t know how to respond to Shiro, the man who had been someone to look up to during a really rough time in his life.

Shiro looked away and found his eyes on Pidge and Lance who were standing awkwardly by each other’s side.

‘Matt... no you can’t be Matt…’ Shiro rubbed his face, wincing as he brushed the bandages covering his nose.

‘I’m Matt’s … sister,’ pidge said with some hesitation

‘Sister...? oh Katie!’ Shiro broke into a smile as he membered her. Brief fleeting memories of a mess of brown hair and her climbing about on her dad’s mechanical contraptions.

‘Err whys he calling you Katie, Pidge?’ Asked Lance frowning in confusing, ‘did he hit his head as well as his face?’

‘Pidge sighed and rubbed the back of her head, ‘Cos that’s my name Lance… my real name… Nobody’s called me that in ages…’ she nodded at Shiro, ‘except him and my family’

‘Aww little kitty cat’

‘Lance I will crush you into a cube with my power Armor, you know I can do it’ 

Lance quickly stepped away from her glare, ‘ooh kitty has claws’ he muttered with a smirk, holding up his hands to look like claws and batting one of them with a fake hiss sound.

She turned her glare instead on Shiro.

‘Shiro. I want to know what happened to my family.’

‘Pidge I don’t think,’ Keith tried to interject but pidges glare cowed him to silence.

‘Keith I’ve waited over a year for this don’t try to stop me!’ She marched up to Shiro and, despite the protests from Hunk, grabbed the injured man and pulled him up to her face, not easy with her small frame and skinny arms.

‘What happened to them?’ She announced each word carefully, looking Shiro directly in the eyes.

‘Katie… I’m sorry… I couldn’t save them,’ Shiro looked away from her, not wanting to make eye contact.

‘No..’ tears pricked Pidges eyes behind her glasses, ‘No you don’t get to say that!’

Pidge was shaking as she yelled in Shiro’s face, her ‘You were meant to protect them! You were-!... Hey let go of me! Hunk put me down!’

Hunk had had enough and had wrapped his arms around Pidges body hoisting her up with ease and away from Shiro.

‘Hunk put me down now!’ She kicked her legs and flailed her arms in attempt to get out of the bigger man’s grasp, failing miserably.

‘Nope not doing that till you calm down. Shiro needs to rest and you grilling him is not going to speed his recovery,’ Hunk slung Pidge over his shoulder and left the room with her pounding on his broad back spitting obscenities that would have made a ghoul blush.

Shiro sank into the sofa onto his back and held his hand to his face. Keith and lance waited in awkward silence, not sure how to react after Pidge’s outburst.  
Finally, Keith spoke breaking the heavy silence.

‘Shiro… I.’

‘Keith don’t bother. I deserved that… Katie is right, I should have protected her family.’  
Lance and Keith glanced at one another not knowing what to say

‘Look man I don’t know what happened out there, but the way we found you… I don’t think there was much you could have done,’ Lance says trying to sound sympathetic but his expression hardened as a painful memory flitted through his mind, ‘Mutants don’t tend to leave much behind...’

‘No, those mutants weren’t the reason I lost her family... it was something… someone else…’ 

Shiro groaned and sat up, holding his head, ‘They… they wanted them... they attacked us just to get at them… I was just in the way… argh!’ Shiro squeezed his eyes shut in pain as he remembered the attack.

Keith quickly rushed to Shiro’s side as he gasped in pain. Worried hands reaching for him. Shiro jerked away from their touch but realised they weren’t there to hurt him. He let Keith guide him back down to the lumpy pillow and rest his head.

‘Keith... I’m sorry… for leaving,’ Shiro murmured, eyes half closed.

‘Shiro that doesn’t matter anymore. Just get some rest.’  
Shiro nodded, his eyes slid shut, and almost instantly was asleep...

‘What was that about?’  
Lance who had been standing awkwardly, had only managed to take a step forwards towards Shiro when he had sat up but Keith had beaten him to Shiro’s side. Keith sighed and pulled a thin blanket around Shiro and turned to lance who was frowning at him.  
‘What was what?’ he asked blankly.

‘Keith, don’t hold out on me, what happened between you and,’ he waved a hand in the sleeping man’s direction.

Keith shrugged looking away from Lance, ‘Nothing’

‘Don’t give me that crap, I’ve never seen you care about anyone before… not like that. You were practically his nanny just now,’ Lance hissed in a hushed whisper sounded annoyed.

Keith walked out of the room and Lance followed doggedly at his heels. Keith could feel him boring holes into the back of his head as he fished out a beer from the fridge.

Finally, Keith had had enough of Lances glaring and spoke.

‘You want to know? Fine.’ Keith grabbed a beer, from the stash Lance had found earlier, snapped the lid off and took a long drink. Lance watched him carefully, waiting for him to change his mind or back out. Finally, Keith spoke.

‘Shiro and I go way back… he... he became the family I never had. When I was on the streets of some shitty little backwater town it was Shiro who pulled me out of the dirt.’

Keith snorted remembering how they had originally met, and took another swig of the beer.

‘I tried to pickpocket him and he caught me, threw me over his shoulder into the dirt before I knew what had happened. He was so fast! I demanded he teach me how to do that. He didn’t laugh or shoot me as some other lowlife would have done, but actually agreed. But only if I showed him how I picked the lock on his dorm and got in.’

Keith hid a small smile that played across his lips as he remembered how the man had taught him the next day and the day after, even giving him a small portion of his own food, one day when he saw how skinny Keith was.

‘When Shiro’s group was ready to head to the next town along with a caravan, I tagged along, dealing with the Brahmin pulling the carts.

‘About halfway to the next town bandits attacked. We had set up camp for the night in what we thought was a safe farm zone. But the farmer was a crook and kept the defences down that night.  
I was sleeping in the Brahmin shed when it happened. Two of the caravan guards were taken out instantly but the bandits were all over the place. And I think the farmer had lied about how many of us there were… maybe he just wanted us to slaughter each other and take the spoils for himself.  
Shiro managed to get the upper hand somehow and got his guys working together and they drove the bandits off.’

‘I wanted to join them but what could a scrawny weak 13-14 year-old like me do? I had no weapon’ Keith snorted, ‘I could have thrown Brahmin dung at them. Hell, the bandits probably wouldn’t have noticed considering how hopped up on jet they were.’

‘After the bandits had been dealt with, Shiro and the others started looking for the farm owner. They had found a note on a bandit incriminating him.’

Keith halted in his story and took a long drink of his beer finishing it with one go. He bent and got another. Lance made a mental note to restock on the next supply run.

‘Keith, did they find him?’

‘No, he found me.’

Lance stared and Keith continued.

‘The guy had probably figured Shiro was onto him and snuck out the back, I think he had decided to steal the Brahman either to ride off on one or just let them loose and cause Shiro some trouble and delay catching him… He had forgotten about me. Maybe didn’t even know I existed until that moment.’

Keith went silent for a long time and Lance wondered if the combo of beer and shock at seeing his old friend had finally taken its toll. But with a small shake of his head Keith continued the story.

‘I didn’t know that Shiro and his men were looking for the guy and I didn’t know the farmer was behind me until he grabbed my hair and he shoved a knife in my side.’

Lance gave a strangled sort of noise that Keith ignored.

‘I may have been small and stabbed but I remembered Shiro’s moves, and... Other memories made me move. I managed to flip the farmer onto his back and in the process, I tried to take the knife from him but… I couldn’t, and fell with him onto the knife and it went straight into his heart.’

‘When Shiro found me, I could barely lift my head, the stab the farmer had given me had missed most of the important stuff but it had bled a hell of a lot by the time he got to me.

‘I don’t really remember what happened after but was told by the other guys in the group that Shiro carried me from the shed to the house and made sure I didn’t die.’ Keith smiled and added, ‘He was never one to give up on someone, even a half-starved street orphan like me.

‘When I woke up I found I was one of the team. The guys had decided that since I had killed the farmer I was officially part of their group. Shiro gave me the offer and even added that I didn’t need to join if I didn’t want to. I didn’t hesitate to join his crew.

‘From then on, I went everywhere with him, he taught me all I know and then some. It was that way for nearly 6 years. Until our last op…

‘We had been asked to clean out a den of bandits that had been attacking a town and sure it was a routine in out op but something was wrong with the whole thing. The bandits were too organised and not only that but... there were whole families there, we found them hiding out in a basement area, Shiro let them go. But they didn’t get far. Ghouls were in the nearby swamp and attacked, took out most of the people before we could do anything.’

‘I don’t know if it was the ghouls or the bandits but during the op we were cornered and we lost more than we bargained for and were pretty badly hit.’ Keith rubbed at his upper left arm, where Lance knew an old scar resided, now he knew where it had come from.

‘We did the job and got out but not before heavy losses, it... affected Shiro, he was off his game for days after, luckily we didn’t have any major jobs during that time but I knew something was up. About a month after the op, we woke up to find him gone, his gear gone and locker empty, he left a note that just said he couldn’t continue with how things were and needed a change.’

Keith finished off the beer and clunked it down a little harder than necessary on the table.

‘That was the end of our group. The others drifted off or were snapped up by other mercenary groups, a few went solo myself included.

‘That’s how I met you Lance, and the rest is history.’

Keith looked up and watched lance, keeping his face carefully blank.

Lance blinked a few times before realising that the story was over.  
‘Keith…buddy I...’

Keith held up a hand, ‘Lance I don’t want your sympathy, it was a long time ago…’

Lance frowned and chewed his lip. He had guessed that there were some parts of Keith’s past that were painful and unpleasant, and he wasn’t about to pry into his past right now, and while Keith hadn’t outright said he was an orphan lance had always assumed there had been someone there as he grew up. While there had been, he hadn’t expected it to be quite like this.

Keith sighed and stretched joints audibly popping.

‘I’m going to bed, tell Hunk and Pidge not to blow anything up for a while.’

He didn’t wait for a reply and left the room, leaving Lance to mull over what he had just been told.  
Lance looked over in Shiro’s direction with new respect. Anyone who could get Keith that talkative must be good for him.

\--

Pidge and Hunk were outside in the greenhouse. Bird song and sounds of running water played on loop softly over a crackling speaker hidden amongst green leaves.

Pidge was furious.

‘Why did you do that! He knows where my family is! He knows who took them! Why won’t you let me find out!?’ she shouted at Hunk drowning out the gentle nature sounds.

‘Pidge, listen to yourself, you are in no form capable of asking rational questions without ripping someone’s arm off!’

Pidge jerked back at that and Hunk mentally face palmed at his own insensitivity.

‘Ok maybe the wrong choice of words there…’ Hunk sighed ‘Look, just let him recover a bit and then you can ask all the questions you need. He’s not going anywhere. And he doesn’t seem to be the kinda guy to keep you in the dark. He seemed pretty beat up about your family… give it time.’

‘But I don’t know if I have time! What if they were killed and... and eaten by those things!’ Pidge started gesturing wildly. ‘I want to know if there’s even a hope of seeing my brothers face again! I want to go home and tell my mum good news about dad... I want… I…’

Pidge who had been holding back the tears suddenly burst into gut wrenching sobs. Hunk gathered her up in his arms and held her while she sobbed, her shoulders shaking with each ragged breath. He rubbed her back gently letting her vent her emotions.

Her sobs turned to small sniffs and hiccups, Hunk quietly waited for her to regain her composure.  
Pidge eventually calmed enough to mutter a small ‘thanks’ and a quick hug before stepping back from Hunk, scrubbing her face, after taking her glasses off, with the edge of her long sleeve.

‘Better?’ hunk asked, peering at her face

‘I’m better. Today has had too many surprises, even for me,’ she gave a small crooked smile, ‘I think I’ll sleep it off and start fresh tomorrow, thanks Hunk.’ she put her glasses back on and turned to leave, only to bump into Lance’s chest.

‘Hey Pidge,’ for once Lance didn’t mock her for her red eyes and tear streaked face. He looked up at Hunk, ‘Shiro’s sleeping as is Keith. It’s been an intense day for all of us and I wouldn’t mind hitting the hay either.’

Hunk nodded and said, ‘the perimeter is mostly up and running, I just need to run a few checks that all the screens and turrets are responding and we should be able to have a peaceful uninterrupted sleep tonight.’

‘Excellent.’ Lance rubbed his hands together looking grateful. Then glanced down at Pidge

‘Oh, and pidge, something Shiro said I thought you should know.’

Pidge looks up so fast lance could have sworn he heard whiplash.

‘What? What did he say? Was it about my family?’ She babbled.

‘Just something about them being taken, but it wasn’t the super mutants that did it.’

The relief that flooded across Pidges face was like the sun shining, ‘they might still be alive then.’ She whispered under her breath

Lance gave her hair a small tussle and she batted away his hand.

‘Don’t worry Pidgeon we will find them’

‘We?’

‘Yeah, you’re part of our team after all, can’t let you have all the fun.’

Pidge threw her arms around Lances waist and hugged him tightly, Lance hugged her back, giving her hair a quick tousle. Hunk smiled and busied himself with checking some systems in the greenhouse.

Hunk remembered how closed off Pidge had been when they had first met and look at her now... She was a slowly but surely coming out of that metal power armour shell of hers.


	6. morning dawns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge wants answers, and overprotective Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope people are enjoying this, there will probably be a break over the holidays while I write a few more chapters. hoping everyone will have a good xmas this year :)

The next day dawned pale red and those sleeping were woken by someone screaming from downstairs.   
Hunk had gotten up early and was fine tuning some systems when the screaming started and nearly broke the delicate circuitry in his fright.

Shiro was having a nightmare.

Keith and Lance were tangled in blankets and practically fell down the stairs, Pidge jumped over their wriggling forms and ran to the living room where she found Hunk holding Shiro down, trying to get him to wake up or calm down or snap out of it.

Keith and Lance finally untangled themselves from the blankets and Keith was at Shiro's side in a flash, leaving Lance hopping about untying the sheet from his legs.   
Shiro was still waving his arms about trying to shove Hunk off, but the bigger man held him down firmly and didn't budge

‘Shiro wake up! You're having a nightmare! Shiro!’ Keith yelled and grabbed at a flailing arm and held on.

‘Lance grab his feet!’ Hunk yelled ducking slightly as one of Shiro's knees jerked up almost knocking him in the face.

Lance reached for Shiro's feet but got a heel to the nose. Blood began to drip slowly down his chin.

‘Oh, for fucks sake not again! Why does the universe have it in for my face just now!’ Lance tried to wipe away the blood, only to smear it across his face even more. He gave up and focussed on snagging Shiro's kicking feet.

Pidge who had been hanging back, was unsure if she should get her power armour and help or just offer moral support. Deciding to try the moral support, she went around the back of the sofa and leaned over it to look Shiro in the face.

His eyes were tightly squeezed shut, in pain, and fear. The half healed scab across his face was cracked and starting to bleed. The bandage had been pulled off at some point during his thrashing.

‘Pidge you better stay back, don’t want you getting hurt’ Hunk grunted as he held down the flailing Shiro

Pidge ignored him and leaned over to get a better look at Shiro, carefully placing a hand on Shiro’s cheek.  
‘Shiro wake up. It's just a dream,’ her voice was unnaturally soft as she spoke, her thumb gently caressing the skin of Shiro’s cheek.

Hunk shook his head at her attempts and concentrated on keeping Shiro still so he didn’t tumble off the sofa and hit the floor

‘Shiro please, wake up!’ Pidge called, her voice changing for that of comforting to one of worry.

‘I don’t think he can hear us Pidge,’ muttered Keith who was concentrating on holding Shiro's good arm down by his side to stop it shoving Hunk away.

‘Shiro! You have to-‘ Pidge was cut off sharply when Shiro's amputated arm collided with her jaw. Her glasses flew off her face and skittered somewhere across the room.

‘Shiro!’ she yelled more from shock than pain. Everyone froze, and Shiro's eyes snapped open.

Even though Pidge was a relatively new member of their little group, Hunk, Lance, and Keith were more than ready to do anything to prevent her from being hurt and Shiro had just hurt her. All hell broke loose.

Lance let go of the man's legs and lunged at Shiro, screaming something about not trusting him and hurting his kitten, Hunk blocked Lance physically with his body by sitting on Shiro’s chest effectively winding the man.   
Keith yelled at Lance to ‘knock it off’ and Pidge took a step back rubbing her face in pain. She couldn't see what was going on without her glasses but guessed Lance had done something stupid.

‘Hunk get off Shiro, you're crushing him!’ Keith yelled.

Shiro was making weird rasping wheezing sounds. Hunk shoved Lance away with one hand as he tried to claw at Shiro from over his shoulder. 

‘Lance if you’re that ready to defend Pidges honour at least go check and see if she's all right!’ shouted Hunk.

‘No! he attacked her and I knew he was no good!’ Lance spat.

‘Lance!’ Keith let go of Shiro's now limp arm and grabbed Lance instead, dragging him back from the sofa, and the man he looked ready to murder.

‘Shiro didn’t know what he was doing! He… he was having a nightmare or a panic attack! I know you don't trust him right now but please!’ Keith pleaded with Lance as he struggled in his grip.

‘Lance, you can do whatever you want to him after he explains himself!’ Hunk growled, he had positioned himself between Lance and Shiro, ready to stop Lance if he charged but also ready to knock Shiro out if he tried anything.   
There was no arguing when Hunk was mad.

Lance threw one last filthy look at Shiro, who was gasping for breath, ‘fine but if he so much as touches one hair on Pidge’s head I will end him,’ he shoved Keith away and stomped over to Pidge, scooping up her glasses from the floor as he did so.

Pidge was still standing awkwardly holding a hand to her jaw, trying to shrink away from the noise and commotion, wishing she had chosen the power armour option instead of the disastrous moral support.

‘Pidge let me look at that.’ 

She glanced up at Lances blurry figure and squinted, she saw him holding out his hand and with a little fumbling she got her glasses back. One of the lenses was cracked but she could see clearly now. Lance was clearly concerned from the look he was giving her.

‘It's not that bad,’ she mumbled turning her face away trying to hide.

‘And I'm a brahmin pie let me see,’ Lance’s voice was firm but gentle. His concern for her was clear. With a sigh, Pidge moved her hand and felt a sharp hiss from Lance.

‘He just knocked me on the chin… I told you... It's nothing,’ mumbled Pidge, trying to look at anything but Lance’s concerned face.

‘Nothing? Nothing!?’ Lances fingers gripped her chin tilting it up to get a better look in the light,   
‘Pidge he sucker punched you in the face, how is that nothing?!’

Pidge yanked herself away and crossed her arms glaring at Lance. He glared back, his eyes fixed on the reddish mark that married her pale skin. 

‘How can he sucker punch me without a hand Lance?’

Lance blinked, ‘hand or not that's still got to hurt.’

Pidge gingerly rubbed her jaw, ‘well yeah… but I don't think it was on purpose he didn't seem to know what was...’

‘Why is everyone making excuses for him?’ Lance threw his arms up in exasperation, ‘Keith I can kind of understand but you?’

‘Lance I'm not! It's just he isn't …’

‘Oh no I get it, nobody can hurt the invalid! It's fine’ Lance snapped and glared at them all. 

‘Lance…’ Keith warned. 

‘No, he doesn’t get an excuse! He hurt Pidge!’ Pidge flinched at Lances raising voice, and seemed to shrink in on herself, making her appear even smaller.

‘why can’t anyone see what’s happening? He is not going to break this family apart!’ Lance almost yelled.

Everyone stared at Lance. The silence slowly grew until it was so thick you could have chewed it.

‘Lance what family?’ Keith’s low voice tore away the silence in one swing.

Lances expression looked like someone had kicked him in the gut.

‘Fine,’ Lance pivoted on his heel and marched out of the room. Leaving Keith bewildered and Hunk shaking his head.

‘What was that about?’ Keith asked waving his hands in the direction Lance had stormed off in.  
Hunk gave a long suffering sigh, ‘Keith you've known Lance what… 2-3 years now? You should know by now how he is about “family”’

‘But I'm not his family, I'm just... oh…’ Hunk nodded at Keith’s sudden realization ‘I am his family...’ 

Panic quickly replaced realization as what he had just said to Lance finally dawned on him, ‘aw   
fuck, what is wrong with me!’

Keith ran out of the room to look for Lance.

‘Hunk...? Care to explain?’ Pidge was completely confused by what had happened.

Hunk rubbed his face and sat on the sofas seat edge, careful not to crush Shiro again. Shiro had remained quiet throughout the whole exchange and didn’t look like he was going to add any of his own opinions for the time being.

‘You haven't been here that long, but you’ve probably noticed how Lance gets all…’ Hunk waved his hand vaguely in the air

‘Insufferable? Overbearing?’ Pidge supplied

‘I was thinking more mother hen, or mamma Youi Gai right now.’

Pidge shrugged, ‘he can be a bit overprotective sure, but what's that got to do with anything that just happened and what’s family got to do with anything?’

Hunk looked like he was struggling to tell her something. He kept opening his mouth then closing it again, eventually with a sigh of resignation he said, ‘It's not really my place to say but he had a big family.’

‘Had?’

‘Yeah. Had. He’s not seen what's left of his family in god knows how many years,’ Hunk sighed again and untied the strip of cloth from round his forehead, that kept his fringe from falling in his eyes. His hair flopped forwards briefly obscuring his expression from Pidge.

‘I only found this out a few years back before he knew Keith. Lance had gotten pissed drunk one night and it all just came out. I know the wastelands are an unforgiving place, I'm not stupid, and Lance has had a fair bit of crap over the years. But shit man,’ Hunk brushed his hair away and 

Pidge saw his eyes were watering with held back tears, ‘Lance's family meant everything to him and he lost it bit by bit. It really cut him up.’

Tears now spilled over unbidden and trickled down hunks face. Pidge knew Hunk wore his heart on his sleeve but seeing him crying so openly unsettled her.

‘Hunk what happened?’

Hunk shook his head and gulped a lungful of air, he scrubbed at his eyes as he stood up, the sofa’s springs twanging with his weight now gone.

‘I can’t tell you that Pidge, that’s Lance's story to explain, but… he has a good reason to hate super mutants,’ with that Hunk left the room. Pidge soon heard the sounds of pots and pans being banged about, and guessed Hunk had started to cook something to calm down.

‘Katie?‘ 

Pidge jumped slightly, she had almost forgotten Shiro was still there. 

‘Katie I'm sorry I didn’t mean to,’ Shiro stopped himself from reaching out to her with his amputated right arm when she shrank back. With a groan, he sunk deeper into the sofa holding his hand to his face and winced as it grazed the slowly healing scabs.

Pidge cautiously approached the sofa. She had known Shiro for only a brief while when he had turned up and offered to be the caravans guard, he had gone on a few short trips with her dad. Pidge remembered how her dad, one night over dinner, had commentated on Shiro's skill at finding safe routes through the wastelands and how well they had dealt with any obstacles since he joined the guard team.

She knelt by the Shiro's side and reached for his bandaged arm. Gently she ran a finger over the puckered edges of the wound, they felt smooth under her callused thumb.

‘Shiro, I want to know what happened.’

‘Katie I… don’t really remember.’

‘Lance said you told them yesterday someone took them. Who? ‘

‘I... don’t remember’

‘Who took them Shiro?’

‘Katie, please, if I knew I would tell you. I swear!’

Pidge stared into his eyes, she saw confusion and pain in them. She didn’t want to but she believed him. She let go of his arm, Shiro held it to his chest and rubbed it with his hand. Without realising it her fingers had dug their nails in and left small crescent welts. Pidge felt a small tingle of guilt, but then she felt a twinge on her jaw and her guilt was quickly gone.

‘Katie what did they call you earlier?’

‘Huh what do you mean?’

‘The others that were here… they called you something else. ‘

‘Oh, you mean Pidge?’

‘Yeah that was it,’ Shiro smiled and, despite the cracked bloody scab running across it, his face lit up. ‘I... remember Sam Holt once calling you that… something to do with pigeons?’

Pidge gave a small chuckle ‘yeah something like that, Matt found an old pre-war book on birds and said I looked like the fluffed-up pigeons in it, the name just sort of stuck’

Shiros smile dimmed slightly when he saw the red bruise on her jaw, it was already blossoming into a real blue and black beauty.

Hesitantly Shiro lifted his fingers and gently tipped her chin up, careful not to touch the bruise.

‘Ka... Pidge I really am sorry.’

The sorry held a lot more meaning than just an apology for the bruise on her jaw.  
Pidge reached up and held his hand, moving it away from her face and placing it by his side but not letting go of it.

‘Just promise me one thing… you won't hurt me. Or my friends. Again,’ the look she gave him gave no room for argument.

‘I promise Pidge,’ Shiro said with sincerity and gave her hand a small squeeze.

A comfortable silence settled around them, broken only by the sounds of Hunk in the kitchen.

‘I’m glad you’re ok Pidge,’ Shiro said.  
Pidge glanced at his face and looked away, as an odd feeling coiled in her chest at the sight of his sincere expression.

‘I was lucky, Lance and Keith found me… I recognised Hunk’s farm name, Lion Farm, when they mentioned it.’ Pidge shrugged, shoving the feeling down and away. ‘I thought maybe Hunk might know where dad and Matt were. And I just… sort of stayed…’ Pidge shifted her position so her back was leaning against the sofa and she could see Shiro out the corner of her left eye.

‘I guess… I just hoped by being somewhere they had been I might, I don't know find something that lead me to them… and I guess in a weird way it did’ she gave a bitter smile at Shiro, ‘the wasteland likes to throw curveballs even when good things happen.’

Shiro gave a small chuckle, ‘Well you have good friends to help you catch them, remind me to thank, Lance was it? He’s there to watch your back’ 

‘Lance has Mamma Youi Gai issues, I'm old enough to handle things myself.’

Shiro chuckled but it morphed into a hacking cough. When he eventually stopped, he flopped back into the sofa looking exhausted.

‘Get some rest Shiro,’ Pidge said then whispered under her breath more to herself, ‘I need you to remember what happened.’

‘I will... try Katie,’ Shiro mumbled already beginning to doze off.

Pidge patted his hand and started to get up but felt a small tug on her shirt, glancing round she saw Shiro had snagged her shirt sleeve between his fingers.  
‘Can… can you stay?’ He wasn't looking at her as he spoke, there was a small tremor of fear in his voice that hadn't been there before, but it was clear that he didn't want to be alone.

‘Why?’ 

‘I can’t… can’t be alone again,’ Shiro was starting to shiver, despite the room being reasonably warm.

‘Ok I’ll stay. Just don’t hit me again,’ Pidge smiled and pulled the blanket up to his chin hoping it would help.

‘Never…’ Shiro murmured and soon his breathing slowed and he was fast asleep.

Pidge stayed by his side, wondering what had happened to the man that had caused him to seemingly lose his memories. And how, whenever he slipped and called her Katie, a small knot formed in her gut. Watching him sleep, she decided she would try and wait till he had healed before she would start really questioning him.

Dawn light spilled warm and rosy through the dirty windows. It was going to be a clear day.

\--

Keith found Lance sulking on the little platform at the top of the house. Lance often went there to think or when he needed time to himself. Keith normally let him have the space to himself, but not now. Keith needed to apologise.

He stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked up. He could just make out a hunched figure in the pale morning light, huddled under the square tin roof.

‘Lance? I'm coming up!’ Keith called and started climbing not waiting for an answer.

He found Lance at the top his back turned to Keith, a thin scrappy blanket wrapped round him. His rifle lay on the floor by his side. Keith shuffled over and sat next to him. Lance didn’t look at him. Keith didn't know what to say. He knew he had to apologise, but it was hard. He wasn't used to this. And normally Lance would brush off his clueless remarks with a snarky comment of his own and laugh.   
Lances cold silence now was new to him.

‘What do you want?’ Lances short demand broke through Keith internal struggle.

‘I... want to … say sorry…’

‘Just that? Sorry? Sorry for what?’ Lance narrowed his eyes, still refusing to look at Keith.

‘Sorry for… for Shiro.’ No that's not what he was sorry for, Keith mentally banged his head against the floor.

Lance's lips thinned, not impressed with the half-hearted apology excuse. ‘Shiro can apologise for himself, don't do it for him.’ 

Keith clenched his fists, why couldn't he just say what he needed to say.   
The problem Keith had was he didn't know how. He rarely had a reason to apologise. He had never had a family, one that he could really remember anyway, and while he knew it was important to Lance… he didn't quite understand the meaning of family the same way Lance did. With a sigh through clenched teeth he tried again.

‘Ok, I'm sorry I made you think… that I was… putting Shiro before you,’ it was awkward but he was trying. Lance frowned and Keith rambled on. ‘I didn’t mean to say what I did… I know … family … is important to you… I just… argh’ Keith ran his hand through his hair dragging it out of his eyes, ‘I’m not used to it… I mean, I guess you are my family in a weird way and I…it means a lot to you and … it means something to me too… I guess...’ Keith broke off when he saw Lance looking at him

Lances beep blue eyes are brimming with tears.

‘Um Lance?’

Lance grabbed Keith s shirt and pulled him into a hug, wrapping his long arms round Keith and burying his head into his shoulder. 

Keith brought his arms up hesitantly and held Lance as he quietly sobbed. ‘Lance…you really are the only family I’ve got...’ he whispered into Lance's hair too quiet for the other to hear.  
They sat like that for a while, Lance silently crying and Keith absently rubbing small circles with his thumb on his back.

Lance pulled back slightly his face tinged red and rubbed his puffy eyes, ‘Sorry. ‘

‘No worries’ Keith said softly with a small smile.

Lance cracked a lopsided grin and leant forward pressing his forehead against Keith’s.

Keith tensed up, not accustomed to this much intimate contact but this was Lance he was with. Someone he had come to trust and depend on. Someone who cared for him. Lance had his eyes closed, his breath tickled Keith’s lips. He was so close…

Unbidden Keith’s hands moved up Lances back to rest behind his shoulders, one hand cradled the back of Lance's head and absently he played with the short strands of hair at the nape of his neck. Lance's own hands had fallen loosely to either side of Keith’s waist, they shifted and Keith gave a small squeak as they tickled him.

Lance's eyes snapped open and he looked up at the sound Keith had made. A devious smile sprawled across his face.

‘Forgot you were ticklish’ Lance's voice was slightly husky and his eyes red from the crying, but his grin was bright.

Keith couldn’t tear his eyes away from Lance’s. The sun had turned the sky a deep red behind him and his eyes were two clear splashes of blue in a backdrop of blood reds. Keith still had his hand behind Lance's head and their faces were so close now. 

Lance could see the faint freckles that dotted Keith’s cheeks, and Keith could see Lances long lashes that framed those blue eyes of his. Their breaths mingled in the small space between them and Keith felt his cheeks starting to burn with a rising blush.   
Ever so slightly Lance leaned forward, a movement so small Keith almost missed it.

A Shrill alarm made them jerk back from one another, then grab at each other’s shirts so not to fall off the small platform. Lance slapped the small alarm button on one of the roof beams and it cut off.

‘Hey if you're up their Lance can you take a look at the north gate? My screens are still not working that end of the farm,’ Hunks crackly voice asked from a small speaker tied to the underside of the tin roof.

‘Yeah Hunk I'm here. I will have a look,’ Lance avoided Keith’s eyes and pulled out a small scope from his jacket pocket and trained it in the direction of the north gate. His cheeks looked flushed but other than that he acted as if nothing had just happened.

Keith was having a small internal breakdown.   
He did his best to avoid looking in Lance's direction, as every time he did he felt his face redden. What the hell had just happened? It hadn’t been his imagination, was it? Lance had leaned in. Definitely leaned in. Why would he have done that if not to… Oh God Lance, he had wanted to kiss him. Keith had wanted it. But why? It made no sense. Keith wrestled with his emotions and it felt like fighting a whole pack of mole rats.   
He didn't know what to think. And Lance was acting so casually that it might never have happened. Ok maybe he had misread the signs, the alarm had gone off and startled them so maybe the movement came after the alarm?

Keith tried to convince himself that nothing had happened but try as he might he couldn't shake the warm feeling that pooled in his stomach at brief memory of Lance leaning forward towards him. It scared Keith.   
He wasn't used to feeling this way about those situations. Unwanted old memories flittered out of the locked door he had hidden them behind.   
No. It's not the same as that. 

Keith shoved the memories away, back into the dark depths of his mind and took a breath, calming himself down. Lance was talking to Hunk through the small com just under the speaker. He turned to Keith with a grin.  
‘Guess who's paying us a visit?’ His voice had hints of teasing in it.

Keith kept his face neutral despite the turmoil running around in his head, ‘Who?’

‘Hunk’s lovely girlfriend!’

There was a spluttered gasping from the speaker as Hunk gabled that she was not his girlfriend and she’s just a very good friend.

‘Sure, Hunk keep telling yourself that, you're not fooling anyone,’ said Lance smugly, he turned to Keith giving him a small bump with his shoulder. ‘Well I'm off to greet the lovely lady’ Lance got up and gave a small stretch, his joints popped slightly, and he stepped onto the ladder and started to descend but he paused before he disappeared over the edge out of sight.

‘Keith… we good, right?’

Keith blinked and looked at Lance. His face wore an expression of worry and concern… and something else Keith couldn’t place.

Keith swallowed the nervous lump forming in his throat and nodded, ‘Yeah, yes we’re good.’

Lance looked relieved, ‘You coming down?’

‘Be down in a few mins,’ Keith needed a few minutes to sort himself and his thoughts out.

‘Cool see you down there later!’ Lance gave a two fingered salute and slid down the ladder.  
Keith heard the clatter of loose roof tiles and the creak of a window open then silence. Keith lent against a beam holding the roof up and let out a long slow breath. 

He couldn't let this make things difficult between them. They relied on each other out in the wastes. If something as small as this got between them… He shook his head, he was overthinking things. Nothing had happened. Lance had just needed company and Keith had been there. That was it. Keith nodded to himself, and got up to go meet Hunk’s not girlfriend. 

As he descended the ladders rungs and hopped through the window into their room. He couldn't quite shake the warm feeling that still pooled in his stomach. He didn't really want to either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone wants to chat you can find me at @dragonetgirl on tumblr. That's where I lurk most of the time


	7. Shay and shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shay arrives and shopping in a dubiously named town happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope everyone had a good xmas break! i had a good week untill the cat decided eating thread and being rushed to the vets was a good way to start the new year. hes recovering from the operation slowly.
> 
> but here is a new chapter! things might slow down quite a bit as i have a metric ton of work to do for college... and its not going to be an easy 6 months ahead because of it.  
> ive written up to chapter 9 so there is still a few chapters in the buffer to edit :)
> 
> enjoy the new chapter people!

Keith found Hunk and Lance out by the front of the house. Lance was wearing a shit eating grin and nudging Hunk in the side with his elbow.

‘So, when will the wedding be? I’m expecting to be best man of course.’  
Hunk clapped Lance over the head a little too heavily, causing him to stumble forwards.

‘Lance, knock it off. Shay and I are just good friends. She’s probably her to drop off or pick up something.’  
‘Or invite you back to her lovely little mirelurk quarry,’  
‘Lance I swear I will concuss you,’ Hunk warned, raising his hand.  
‘Ok ok! Calm down big man!’ Lance laughed stepping out of Hunk’s reach.

Keith joined them as they watched the small trail of dust approaching the farm. He glanced around noticing that one of their group was missing.  
‘Where’s pidge?’ Keith asked, leaning slightly as he looked, wondering if her tiny frame was hiding behind one of the others.

‘Oh, she's inside with that Shiro dude. Said she would keep an eye on him in case of any more outbursts,’ said Hunk with a shrug.  
‘She ok to do that?’ Lance had that look of worry on his face again.  
‘Yeah, she should be fine, gave her a few stims and something to knock him out if it got too bad,’ Hunk crossed his arms with a small frown, ‘though we will need to do a supply run soon, I’m running low on a few things that would be handy to have just now.’

‘Well we were planning to go to a Claptown in a few days, they should have what you're looking for,’ Keith mentioned, but side eyed Lance as he did so, waiting for a thinly veiled innuendo comment but Lance was oddly silent.

Hunk nodded looking relieved, ‘great will give you guys a list, maybe take Pidge with you to get her out a bit. They should not recognise her there but she will have to leave her power armour at the gate…’ Hunk rubbed his chin, ‘ah well see what she says anyway.’

They stood in silence and watched as Shay slowly came into view. She had a cart pulled by a Brahmin trundling along behind. A small figure was perched precariously on top of the cart, reins in hand. Hunks face lit up when he saw Shay come clearly into view.

‘Shay!’  
‘Hunk!’

The two of them practically skipped to meet each other midway on the path. Hunk wrapped his arms round her waist easily lifting the taller woman up and twirling her around. Shay laughed in delight, lifting her feet so they didn't drag in the dirt. Hunk placed her back down and grinned. Both he and Shay had pink tinged cheeks and were beaming at one another.

The little figure on the cart made a silent gagging gesture and hopped down, misjudged the height and sprawled face first in the dirt.

‘Ohh you ok buddy?’ Hunk had seen the whole thing.

The kid sat up looked over at them and his lip began to quiver. Shay hurried to his side pulling out a dirty cloth and wiping the worst of the dirt away from his face.

‘I have told you time and time again. Not to jump before you look,’ gently scolded Shay, ‘One day you might really hurt yourself, and then who would look after Billy?’ she gestured with one hand to the Brahmin whose heads were contentedly chewing their cuds.

Hunk crouched down by the kid and ruffled his hair leaving it sticking out at odd angles.  
‘That was some fall, remember to roll with it next time.’  
‘Hunk! Do not encourage him!’  
Hunk laughed and put his hands up to ward off any anger and helped the kid up  
‘Up you get, there's a mutfruit pie cooling on the kitchen table, go help yourself while it's still warm.’

The kid sprinted off in the direction of the house, all signs quivering lip gone. Hunk and Shay were joined by Lance and Keith as they stood by the cart.

‘So, what do we owe this honour to be graced by your lovely presence?’ cooed Lance giving Shay a small bow, and grinning from ear to ear as Hunk ducked his head, trying, and failing to hide his growing blush.

‘Oh Lance, your flattery will not sway me,’ Shay smiled at Hunk, who’s blush was now impossible to hide, and he quickly busied himself with untying the tarp that covered the cart's contents.

Lance, not looking at all bothered by Shays brush off, jerked a thumb in the direction of the house. ‘By the way who was that kid who ran by?’

‘Oh, that was Klyzap, do you not recognise him? Last time he was here you adored his knitted sweater.’  
‘That was him!? Wow they sure do grow fast, what are you feeding them?’  
‘Only what we can spare and even then, I do sneak the children some treats. Which reminds me Hunk, would you be able to make any of those fruit pies from last time?’  
‘Oh, yeah I can whip up a batch for you!’ Hunk grinned, unlatching the last hook on the carts tarp.

‘I thank you Hunk,’ Shay placed her hand on his shoulder and Lance coughed into his hand.  
Hunk glared at Lance, ‘oh by the way Lance, Klyzap can have your pie slice.’

Lances cough turned into a splutter, ‘What? I am not letting that snot nosed brat have my pie piece!’ Lance spun on his heel and charged towards the house.

‘I had better make sure they don't fight over the food, unless you need help here?’ Keith almost pleaded, not wanting to deal with Lance right now.

Hunk didn't pick up on Keith's barely hidden desperation, ‘nah we’re good here. Tell Lance that if I come back to find my kitchen a mess I’m revoking his mutfruit pie privileges forever.’

‘...ok.’ Keith shuffled away.

Shay watched him leave with a small frown, ‘Hunk? I do not mean to pry but Keith seemed upset by something.’

‘Ah… we had a bit of an… incident earlier,’ Hunk straightened up and crossed his arms frowning as well, ‘We rescued some guy yesterday and it's kind of thrown everyone. Keith and Pidge knew him and things kind of got a bit tense for everyone this morning.’ He shook his head and sighed. ‘I thought Lance and Keith had talked it out but maybe not.’

‘Hunk does this man pose a threat?’ Shay said, shifting her weight into more of a defensive stance.

‘What? No! He's just a bit skittish, he was beat up pretty bad when we found him… Super mutants,’ Hunk didn't need to elaborate, Shay knew that those who survived super mutants were broken people who took a long time to recover, if they did at all.

‘Anyway, there anything in here that you need work on?’ said Hunk changing the topic and throwing the tarp up to display a mix of boxes, mirelurk carapaces, and a mix of machinery. 

‘Yes, I would be most grateful if you have a look at these,’ Shay patted the machinery, ‘They have not been functioning as well as I would like,’ Shay reached under the tarp and pulled out a box filled with round objects.

‘I also brought you these… we had more than needed,’ she slid the box over to Hunk not quite meeting his eyes.

‘Shay! You shouldn’t have!’ Hunk exclaimed holding up one of the round objects. They were mirelurk eggs, slightly larger than his hand.

Shay smiled happily as Hunk counted the eggs.  
‘This is… thank you Shay. If you're staying a while, we can cook these up tonight for supper, I know a great recipe I’m sure you haven't tried yet,’ Hunk was getting excited thinking of how he could prepare the meal, Shay was happy just to watch him.

‘Oh, right should get this stuff to the shed and we can let Billy have a break. Hunk patted the rump of Billy who mooed from the left head.

‘I agree,’ Shay hopped up onto the cart with practised ease and Hunk stood by Billy’s heads to lead the way. With a final smile up at shay, he tugged at Billy’s harness and they headed to the shed. 

\--

After a brief fight over the pie, Klyzap had already scoffed three slices by the time Lance got to him and shoved a further half of a fourth piece into his mouth during the struggle. Keith broke it up by swiping the cake and locking it in the fridge.  
Lance and Klyzap dived for the remaining half slice on the table top sending it flying. 

Pidge curious about the commotion had come through to see what it was all about and failed to dodge the uneaten slice of sky borne pie. It smacked her in the face and exploded wetly in a shower of crumbs and red juices. Everyone froze. 

‘Lance did it!’ screamed Klyzap and darted out of Lance’s reach.

Keith burst into laughter and doubled over slapping his thigh, gasping for breath.  
Pidge wiped a hand over the mess on her face, only smearing the sticky juices even more over her glasses lenses, she took them off and licked her thumb and lips.

‘It’s good, lucky it wasn't hot,’ she said with a shrug and turned to the stairs to make her way to the bathroom and wash off.  
She took three steps and banged into the doorframe. Without her glasses and eyes sticky with fruit juice she was practically blind.

‘Um little help?’ she grudgingly asked.

Keith had managed to get his laughing under control and offered his arm to her. Leading her up the stairs to the bathroom.

‘Yo, who’s the grandpa?’ Klyzap was leaning against the living room door frame chewing a stick of gum.  
“Where the hell did he find that!” Thought Lance, reaching out to nab the child before he could do any more damage.

The kid ducked under Lance’s swing and side stepped round him, giving him a painful kick in the shins.

‘Ow respect your elders!’ grouched Lance rubbing his shin.

Klyzap just stuck his tongue out and sauntered over to the couch with Shiro.

‘Err I wouldn't get too close,’ warned Lance.  
‘Why? Not like he can do much as a cripple...YAH!’

Shiros arm had shot out and grabbed Klyzap by the shirt, yanking him closer.  
‘Get off me gramps! Lance! Help me!’

Lance debated whether he should let Klyzap suffer for his behaviour earlier but decided that dealing with an angry Shay wasn't in his best interests.

‘Hey Shiro let the kid go!’ Lance put just the right amount of threat into his voice that it sounded genuine.

Shiros grip loosened and Klyzap squirmed away and out of reach. He scampered and hid behind Lance's legs and peered round at Shiro with saucer wide eyes.

‘Thanks lance. You can have this,’ he held up the half chewed stick of gum.  
‘Err, it’s ok you can keep it. Why not go see if Hunk and Shay need help with Billy?’  
Klyzap nodded and scampered off.

‘Lance… I'm sorry I wasn't going to hurt him I swear,’ Shiro sat up slightly to get a better look at Lance in the doorway.

Lance still didn't quite trust Shiro but he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, at least for Keith's sake anyway.

‘Little pie thief probably deserved it anyway,’ Lance said with a shrug as he walked to a chair. Plopping down in it he watched Shiro carefully. The man hadn't made any moves that he considered threatening but then again Lance couldn't quite get a read on the guy.

‘How's the…’ Lance waved a finger at his own face, ‘nose thing?’  
Shiro hovered his hand over the scabbed mess running across his face, ‘I think I broke it open again earlier…’

‘If it wasn't you it would have been me’  
Shiro looked at Lance, his arms were crossed and a hard look had settled in his eyes. Shiro knew that if he was to find help here, it was Lance he needed on his side most of all.

‘Lance... About earlier… I am sorry. I should have had better control over myself, but I ... didn't and...’  
‘And you hurt Pidge,’ Shiro winced at the venom in Lance's voice but ploughed on.

‘I am truly sorry that it happened, I never want to do that again. I can't hurt her again,’ Shiro meant so much more by the again, ‘Lance if I ever lose it and you think I could be a danger… I want to know that you will be there to take care of it and stop me.’

Lance’s eyes widened. Ok he had expected the apology but not the way Shiro almost demanded that he be put down like a wild beast if things went south for him.

‘Look man you've been through some pretty rough shit but that doesn't mean-’ Lance was cut off by Shiro shaking his head.

‘I mean it Lance. If I do anything that could hurt Kat- Pidge… ‘

Lance gulped and nodded silently under Shiro's gaze. Shiro gave a relieved sigh and flopped back into the sofa. ‘Thank you, Lance…’

Lance watched in silence as Shiro drifted off into sleep, a small pinched look between his eyes didn't smooth away however.

Soon enough Pidge trotted down the stairs now clean from the pie juice. Keith followed behind.

Pidge went over to Shiro and sat on the floor by his side, taking up and gently holding his only hand. Lance noticed the pinched look smoothed away and soon Shiro's light snores filled the room.

‘Keith a word,’ Lance jerked his head towards the kitchen and waited for Keith to join him there.

‘Keith… Shiro just asked me to... Well put him down if he went ballistic again,’ Lance was slightly unnerved by how casual and earnest, almost eager, Shiro had been about it.

‘Well... that does sound like something the old Shiro would say,’ Keith frowned, ‘He was always one to put the safety of others before himself.’

‘Yeah but, I'm not sure I could do it. I mean he was like a dad to you once, and Pidge… I don't know how Pidge feels about him right now after what he said happened to her brother and dad,’ Lance let out a long conflicted sigh and leaned against the kitchen worktop.

Keith hesitantly patted his shoulder, not quite meeting his eyes. 

‘Hopefully it won't come to that,’ Keith gave Lance's shoulder a small squeeze and dropped his hand. They stood in silence for a few minutes, until Lance couldn't take it anymore.

‘Keith, um, about earlier. Err I'm sorry if I-’ 

Lance was cut off as Klyzap sauntered into the kitchen.

‘Yo,’ the small child said, with a wide grin covering his face.  
‘What do you want pie thief?’ Lance narrowed his eyes.  
‘Hunk was asking if someone called Pidge could help him with the equipment we brought,’ Klyzap pointed in the direction that he had just come from.

‘I’ll go ask her,’ Keith stated before quickly marching from the room.

‘Your boyfriend is grumpy. What did you say to him?’  
Lance sputtered, ‘He’s not! He's not my boyfriend!’

Klyzap shrugged, ‘Dunno bout that, but you upset him. He looked like my mum when my dad comes home from the bar and she tells him off.’

This kid was seriously comparing Lance and Keith's relationship to his parents drunken domestic.  
‘Look kid it's not the same thing… We had some words but we are good now. Grown up stuff you wouldn't understand.’

A wicked smile spread across Klyzap’s face.  
‘Lance and Keith sitting in a mmffmmppppfff!’ Lance had successfully clamped a hand round the kid's mouth as Pidge and Keith walked back through.

‘Um I think he's meant to breath Lance...’ Pidge frowned at the scene before her.

‘He’ll be fine, go help Hunk, Pidge,’ Lance hissed through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep Klyzap from blurting out any more.

With a shrug, Pidge went to go find Hunk. Keith stayed where he was.

‘You not helping the big man?’ Lance asked, not letting go of his grip on Klyzap.  
‘No, Pidge wanted someone to keep an eye on Shiro in case he woke up again,’ Keith shrugged, ‘I've got nothing better to do just now.’

‘Oh ok,’ Lance couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice, Klyzap stopped his squirming to listen.  
‘Well I had better go,’ Keith looked over his shoulder at Shiro's snoring form, a soft look in his eyes.

‘Yeah, you do that,’ Lance looked away from Keith.

‘Ok...’ Keith turned and left Lance, still holding the now still Klyzap. Who decided that he had been silent long enough.

‘Inmmf mupphhdd damsss blaaaaaahh!’  
‘Oh gross! You didn't have to lick me!’ Lance released him and wiped his slobbered on hand against his trousers.

‘Keith is upset you should talk to him. Talking always helps my mum.’  
‘Kid I don't think…’  
‘You don't know until you try’

Lance looked at a pouting Klyzap with a new sense of appreciation, and a bit of amusement.  
With a shrug, he said, ‘You're right can't hurt to try,’ Lance didn't really believe it, but anything to mollify the relation guru child before him.

With a smug look Klyzap added, ‘If he doesn't talk you can always roll around with him and wrestle. Mum and Dad do that sometimes too.’

It was too much for Lance

‘Hey! You want some more pie!’ Lance yanked open the fridge door and pulled out the half eaten  
pie from earlier.  
Klyzap and Lance polished off the pie in a few minutes. All thoughts of weirdly age inappropriate relationship advice forgotten.

As it turned out shay, and by extension Klyzap, ended staying overnight while pidge and Hunk worked on the equipment that Shay had brought with her.

There was some argument over where everyone would sleep.  
Hunk was a gentleman and offered Shay his room, saying he could sleep on the couch but there was only one couch and Shiro was on it. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Shiro should be ok enough to move about. But his sleeping arrangements were still a problem. 

Hunk suggested they all draw straws to see who had to share with who. Several drawn straws later and Lance was muttering that it was rigged. 

Lance and Keith had to put up with Klyzap for the night and Shiro was in Pidge’s room on the spare mattress, much to Pidge’s discomfort. She preferred sleeping alone and had been using the spare mattress to store some of her mechanical creations on it  
As night fell they all tried to sleep. 

Lance and Keith were too high strung from that day's events to really sleep plus Klyzap snoring between them wasn't helping.

Pidge wasn't doing much better. The spare mattress was pushed up against the opposite wall of her room and she could just make out the huddled shape of Shiro under the blanket. She could tell he wasn't asleep either. She didn't know if there was anything she could do to help so she just rolled up in her own blanket and whispered. ‘Night Shiro’  
‘Night Katie.’

He kept calling her that and each time he did a knot would form in her chest. Ignore him she told herself, you’re just worried about him in case he can't tell you about your family…

\---

 

The next day dawned a blood red and everyone except Hunk, Shay and Klyzap looked like they had a sleepless night.

‘Hunk you have any of that coffee stuff?’ yawned Lance there were bags under his eyes. Keith didn't look much better.

‘Wow Pidge you seen your face this morning?’ gasped Lance as she tottered down the stairs rubbing her eyes and still looking half asleep.

‘No? What's wrong with it?’

Keith looked up and hissed under his breath. Even Shay had a look of concern on her face.

Klyzap gave her an answer, ‘your face looks like a bruised mutfruit!’

Pidge spun round to go back upstairs to see what they were talking about in the bathroom mirror, it was the only one low enough for her to see into, and bumped into Shiro who was standing just behind her.

His eyes widened when they took in her face. ‘Oh my god I'm sorr-’  
‘You can quit it with the sorrys and get out of my way,’ Pidge shoved past Shiro and darted upstairs.

‘She’ll live, don't worry,’ Hunk said casually as he stirred something over the cooker, ‘Few days and it should be gone. No lasting damage.’

Shiro sighed and picked at the bandages on his arm, only to stop when Hunk told him off, and he joined the others at the table. Lance was resting his chin on the table top and was too tired to shoot any suspicious looks at him.

‘Huuunk where's breakfast?’ whined Lance.  
‘It’s coming when it's coming.’

Lance groaned and whined until Hunk slammed a plate of food down in front of him. They ate in silence until Pidge re-joined them. 

‘Hey Pidge want to come with us to Claptown?’ Lance looked up at Pidge with a mouth full of food, ‘Need to pick up a few things and Shay’s heading that way too, ain't cha?’ 

Shay nodded and went back to eating.  
Pidge hesitated, ‘I don't know… can I bring my Power armour?’  
‘Yeah but they don't let weapons into the town and I'm pretty sure that includes things like your armour,’ Lance could see she was going to say no so quickly added, ‘it's a pretty safe town, and it's been long enough for any rumours about you to have been blown out of proportion. Plus, they might have a new pair of glasses or some tech in the market there if you're lucky.’

Pidge perked up at the mention of non-broken glasses and new tech.  
‘Ok I’ll come along, need to get out at some point...’  
‘That's the spirit!’ Lance slammed his fist down for emphasis, causing Shiro to jump slightly.  
‘Oh, sorry man, err I don't think you would do well going to town… Keep resting yeah?’

They finished off the food and helped Hunk load the now fixed equipment back into the cart and hook up the Brahmin Billy. Hunk gave Shay one last twirl and they were off, Lance and Keith riding in the back with Shay at the reins. Pidge in her power armour walked alongside the cart as they set off, Klyzap perched precariously on her shoulder. Asking questions a mile a minute.

‘How old are you? You’re a bit taller than me but not much so are you my age? Do they let kids have power armour? Where did you get the it? How long did it take you to fix it? How much did it cost you? I have some caps, will 50 be enough to buy power armour? Can I have a go in it? What's it like to be so strong in it? How do you fit in there? Is it smelly? Does it get hot? How do you go to the bathroom? Ew do you go in it?’

Shay laughed into her hand as Pidge did her best to answer the boy's constant stream of questions. Keith and Lance had been lulled to sleep by the rocking cart and the warmth of each other's presence, they were oblivious to the world around them as they dozed the whole ride to their destination.

‘Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!’  
‘Ugh what? Lance cracked an eye open and saw Klyzap standing over him, ‘Five more minutes...’ he waved a hand and snuggled closer to the warm shape next to him.

‘Lance get up we're here,’ Keith muttered.  
Lance jerked back awake and away from Keith who’s jacket he had just tried to snuggle under.  
‘Awake now! Ok let's go,’ he hurriedly hopped off the cart, ‘Thanks for the lift Shay!’  
‘It was my pleasure Lance, come now Klyzap, we must be off.’

The three of them waved as the cart disappeared in a cloud of dust round a bend.  
Keith, Lance, and Pidge set off at a brisk pace following a well beaten dirt path.

‘Glad somebody got some sleep,’ muttered Pidge after a while, irritated by Lance’s new chipper mood and whistled tunes. Keith coughed into his hand and Lance went a shade pinker that had nothing to do with the sun beating down on them.

 

They reached the town and were greeted by a weary looking guard.  
‘If you're here for business, pleasure, or just to sightsee, leave your weapons just inside the gate on your left,’ he eyed the power armour, ‘that too, don't want no trouble here.’

‘Yussir,’ Lance chirped and trotted inside followed by Keith and Pidge who had to duck to avoid hitting the low archway.

They found themselves in a small between gate path. There was a man sitting behind a small alcove on the left as they entered. He sighed when he saw the power armour.

‘You gotta leave that here you know...’  
‘I know, where can I put it though?’ Pidge made a show of looking about.  
‘Just bring it through here,’ the man moved to one side and unlocked a door. Pidge squeezed through in the armour and soon came sauntering out without it. The man looked a little bemused that someone so small had come out of such a large thing but he had seen weirder. 

They left their weapons. Lance kissing his scoped rifle and whispering ‘Estaré de vuelta mi dulce’ 

Keith had a small argument over whether his combat knife was a weapon or an essential utensil. Keith won out in the end and kept it in his boot. They were let into the town through the second set of doors and made their way to the town's main square.  
A number of men and women, even the odd ghoul dotted the pathways, several looked dolled up and winked invitingly at the passers-by.

Pidge glanced around feeling a crawling sense of unease, ‘Err Lance, what type of town is this?’  
A mischievous smirk grew on Lance's face, it did not make her uneasiness lessen, ‘Pidge my dear this town caters to everyone.’

‘In what way Lance…’ Pidge watched as two rather beautiful women waved at them, ‘Actually I don't want to know!’ and she picked up her pace to glue herself to her two friends.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s snorts of laughter and put a comforting arm about Pidge’s shoulders, ‘Don't worry Pidge nothing will happen. It's not... Not that kind of town.’ 

Pidge felt slightly better at Keith's words but made a mental note to find a way to sneak a knife in with her next time, just in case.

They reached the market and it was bustling with activity. Merchants shouted out their wares, trying to drown their competitors out. 

Lance made a beeline for the stalls that had the medical stuff Hunk wanted. Keith stayed with Pidge and helped her shove through the crowds to look for a new pair of glasses.  
They didn't find glasses, but Pidge spent a good chunk of her caps on a several nifty bits of tech and something that looked like a schematic for an eyebot. After viciously haggling the vendor owner down till he looked ready to cry thief and get them thrown out, Keith dragged her away and found a bar to sit and wait in.

Pidge was fawning over the schematics while the bartender chatted away to a fellow ghoul.  
The ghoul caught Keith's eye, not because of the rotting flesh, but because of the magnificent orange haired moustache and finely kept orange hair atop his head. 

Keith didn't see ghouls with much hair and a moustache was just unheard of. Without meaning to, he listened in on their conversation.

‘I’m telling you this is the best day of my life! Unless you count the day I found that hidden bottle of spice wine,’ said the orange haired ghoul.  
‘Well Coran if today is so special why don't you have this drink on the house,’ the bartender poured a shot of something and handed it to his friend.  
‘Oh no, I can't be drunk for my princesses’ big day! She's quite fragile just now, don't want to alarm her in any way!’  
‘Not even to take the edge off your nerves?’  
‘Nerves what nerves? They rotted away years ago!’ They both laughed at the ghoulish humour and went back to everyday small talk.

‘Keith what's there to drink? I’m parched,’ Pidge had finally stopped fussing over the eyebot schematics and was drumming her fingers on the bar.

The ghoul bartender abandoned his conversation and shuffled over taking the undrunk shot glass with him.  
‘Don't want this to go to waste, few caps and it's yours.’

Pidge eyed the shot glass with more than a little suspicion  
‘What's in it?’  
‘The usual.’  
‘What's the usual?’  
Lance came out of nowhere and leaned between the two of them, ‘Pidge I don't think you'll like it. It's made for ghouls. Ain't that right?’

The barman nodded and went to take the shot back but Pidge snatched it up in one hand and tossed a couple of caps on the bar top, ‘gotta try this then if it's a ghoul drink!’ and she downed it before anyone could stop her.

Her face screwed up as the liquid burned a path down her throat. Sticking her tongue out she grimaced. ‘Ugh that tasted worse than molerat soup… Gimme another.’

‘Pidge I don't think…‘ Lance yelped when she grabbed his shirt and pulled him close to her face  
‘I want another!’ the cracked lens of her glasses flashed dangerously.

‘Better listen to her Lance, I don’t think there’s anyway you can stop her.’ Laughed Keith.  
‘You’re not helping Keith,’ shot Lance smoothing out his shirt as Pidge let him go to down another shot. ‘That stuff is already hitting her!’

‘Yeah but she should know when to stop… right?’ Keith looked a little worried as she downed a third shot.  
‘This one's on you man, I tried to stop her,’ Lance raised his hands in mock dismissal, then noticed the orange haired ghoul, ‘Coran! What are you doing here!’

‘Lance! Long time no see! ‘

Coran gave Lance a hug, who looked a little stiff but accepted the ghouls gesture, ‘I see you're here with friends, what brings you to town? Having a little fun time off?’ Coran wiggled his bushy eyebrows, as Pidge yelled ‘Another!’ slamming her fourth shot glass down.

‘Pidge you're going to run out of caps soon! Stop!’ pleaded Keith as she took up her fifth shot.

The bartender was enjoying himself and pulled a new bottle of something from under the counter.

‘Nah we're here on a supply run,’ Lance said as he watched Pidge down her fifth and reach for the sixth shot of the new bottles liquid.

‘Ah well my dear boy, so am I,’ and Coran puffed out his chest, which looked a little concave for some reason, ‘My princess has finally awoken after all these years of slumber. I’m bringing her some of the wonders of the wasteland so she can see what has happened and get up to speed on the world.’

‘Uh huh, that so.’ Lance was distracted by Keith grabbing Pidge round the waist and hauling her bodily away from the bar. She still managed to snag and down one last shot, her seventh by the looks of it.

‘Well I’d best be off, can’t have her waiting too long. Poor thing, she's been alone for so long and things are so different. She didn't even recognise me when she woke up, gave me a good kick in the chest. He patted the concave dip about his ribs, ‘Ah good to know she still remembers what I taught her,’ Coran patted Lance on the shoulder and turned to leave. 

As Lance glanced round to say goodbye, he spotted three men making a small gesture to Coran then get up and follow him out the bar.  
They were not dressed like civilians, and their outfits set off alarm bells in Lance's head.

‘Hey Keith I think we have a problem.’  
‘Yeah well so do I,’ Keith was struggling with Pidge who was putting up a pretty good fight, cursing Keith and trying to get back to the bar and more shots.

‘Keith, I think some bandits are going after Coran. I can't let that happen to him!’  
‘Why? What’s so important about that ghoul? Pidge stop it!’ Pidge tripped over her feet and nearly pulled Keith onto the floor. Her insults were getting too slurred to understand.

Lance gave a dramatic sigh, ‘this is Coran. He’s helped out at the farm several times. You know how we sometimes get hot water in the shower? That was him.’

Keith didn't look that convinced.

‘Look just get Pidge to go back and deliver a message to Hunk, oh and take these’ Lance slung a bag, filled with meds that Hunk had asked for, at Keith. 

‘I'm not sure she could deliver a message just now…’ Keith glanced down at Pidge who had given up struggling and now had a happy smile plastered over her face and was giggling like a child up at them.

‘Oh god she's smashed,’ moaned Lance, ‘Look just figure something out. I’m sure that armour of hers has like auto pilot or something.’ Lance began to jog out of the bar.

‘Hey! Where you going!’ Keith yelled hoisting a giggling Pidge up under the armpit.  
‘To make sure Coran’s all right!’ Lance called over his shoulder as he dashed out the door.

Keith looked down at Pidge who grinned wobbly up at him.  
‘Keeff thers... Thwee and halff off yooou’

Keith groaned, but with a little effort got her onto his back piggyback style. She nuzzled into his hair and breathed, her breath stank sickly sweet of whatever that concoction was she had been drinking.  
‘Hair smell nice, like lasst dwink, vunilla.’ she mumbled ‘Lance lucky...’

Keith did his best not to drop her and made his way quickly to the weapon storage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come find me on tumblr @dragonetgirl  
> yell, scream or whisper at me, i don't mind.
> 
>  
> 
> and if you were wondering why its called Claptown... its cos everyone had the Clap there at some point in its colourful history.


	8. the sleeping princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some new friends are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how is everyone doing?? sorry for the long wait, I had a really bad start to the new year involving my cat eating thread and getting operated on to get it out before it killed him (hes is all better now), and then got really sick for a week, and have had a crap ton of college work, and then Voltron season 2 killed me.  
> so had this sitting unedited and unspell checked on my laptop since before xmas, but i finally have time to edit and post it now!.  
> hope you enjoy it :)

Lance reached the weapons storage ahead of Keith and Pidge. After grabbing his gun from the board looking storage clerk, and asking the guards where the ghoul had gone, he took off in that direction.  
He had a vague idea where Coran lived but had never been there himself. Soon he spotted signs of footprints ground into the dirt leading away from the town. Lance gritted his teeth, shouldered his rifle, and followed the tracks.

As he came over a hill his sharp eyes spotted a glint of light, ducking behind one of the boulders that were starting to scatter the area, he pulled out his pocket scope and focused on the area he had seen the light. 

It didn't take him long to spot the band of bandits. There was at least five that he could see. They were creeping along a ditch with large rocks lining the sides keeping them out of view from Coran, who was walking some ways ahead, clearly oblivious to his pursuers.

Lance tried to get a good look at the bandits, but they kept ducking and weaving in and out from behind rocks, making it hard to see what sort of fire power they had on them. He would have to take his approach very carefully.

Focusing on Coran again he saw the ghoul weave his way between the rocks. He was heading to an area that would make ambushing him easy for the bandits if they got ahead of him. But if the bandits weren't keeping an eye on their own backs Lance could have a chance of taking them out if he was lucky. He pocketed his scope and crept down the hill. Sticking close to the shadows of the rocks. He really hoped Keith had managed to get Pidge into her suit safely and would catch up soon.

There was plenty of good spots for him to snipe from but most would leave him defenceless if the bandits spotted him. Eventually he saw an area that would give him some cover if he was careful, and it was higher above the rest of the rocks so he would have a clear shot at the bandits.

Lance carefully crept up the rock and got into position. Coran looked like something was on his mind as he had slowed down. Lance could clearly see several of the bandits begin to pull out various guns and clubs. Lance picked out one target, took aim and fired.

The bandit's head cracked open like a ripe melon, and the body slumped down the rock he had been crouched beside. The bandit nearest turned to see what the noise was and hit the floor, clasping his neck as blood gushed through his fingers. Lance clicked his tongue in annoyance. His shot had missed the guy’s head and now he was going to bleed out painfully.  
The other bandits must have heard the gurgling death sounds of their fallen comrade, as they ducked behind the nearest boulders. Unfortunately for one he chose the wrong side to hide behind. Lance took him out in a spray of blood and went back to searching for the other two. One's shadow was peeking out from a rock, the other was nowhere to be seen. Lance cursed under his breath. Coran seemed to have finally realised something was up and had vanished amongst the rocks. 

Lance didn't really care about him at this point as he ducked lower to avoid a hail of bullets that ricocheted off the rocks around him. The bandits still didn't know where he was exactly but they knew from what direction he had shot from.

Lance waited for the firing to stop as they reloaded and took aim. The bandit whose shadow he had seen, popped up to fire but never got the chance.  
Lances bullet hit him square between the eyes, but the bandits spasming fingers on the trigger shot of a wild flurry of shots. One nicked the stone just beside Lance's head shearing off a sliver of rock that sliced Lances brow.

Swearing as blood began to drip into his eyes, Lance slid down the rock to the floor, dropping his gun in his haste to stem the blood. 

A shadow darkened out the sun and he looked up. The fifth bandit was grinning down at him, arm raised clutching a sharpened machete. Lance rolled out of the way as it came down, glancing off the rock and sending up sparks. 

The rocks that scattered the landscape didn't let Lance scramble far and he soon found himself trapped, back pressed up against a wall. The bandit was grinning manically as he stalked after Lance and found him trapped. 

‘Nowhere left to run,’ he snarled.

Lance tried to pull his pistol from its holster, but it had twisted round and snagged on his jacket.  
The bandit laughed at his attempts and swung wildly at him. Lance dodged out of the way but caught his foot on a rock. He hit the ground hard and rolled to try and avoid the madman.  
Only to have a heavy boot stomp down on his back. 

‘You're not going anywhere,’ Lance heard the bandit hiss. He felt the cold sharp edge of the machete press against his cheek, hard enough to break the skin. Lance couldn't help the whimper of fear that escaped his lips.

The bandit seemed to be enjoying torturing Lance.

He leaned down and whispered exactly what he was going to do with him. Lances blood ran cold. He tried to wriggle out from under his boot but it pressed its heel in hard and the pain on Lances spine spiked.

‘Hold still and this will be over, or don't, actually struggle it will be more fun to see you die slowly after what you did to my mates!’

Lance saw the shadow before him on the rock raise its arm and he squeezed his eyes shut. Sorry Keith was all he thought. 

There was a splattering sound and Lance yelped feeling something warm hit the back of his head. Then the sound of two tumps and the pain on his back was gone. 

Cautiously he cracked one eye open and wriggled his fingers. He was still alive. He twisted round and tried not to vomit at the sight before him. 

The bandit lay in two halves on either side of him, smoking slightly, and Keith stood hunched over breathing heavily, at Lance's feet.

‘What took you so long?’ demanded Lance scrambling to his feet, careful not to touch the two body halves.

‘You're welcome,’ huffed Keith gulping down air.

Lance didn't wait for Keith to get his breath back before wrapping his arms round him in a tight hug.

‘Lance what...’  
‘I thought you weren't coming,’ Lance mumbled into Keith's collar.

Keith was confused and awkwardly patted Lances back, ‘Well I made it, didn't I?’  
‘Yeah you did, thanks,‘ Lance pulled back and Keith noted that his eyes were slightly red.  
‘Let me see your eyes Keith.’  
‘Err what?’ Keith couldn't help the flush that crept up his neck.  
‘Your eyes. I want to know you didn't use anything to do this.’

All thoughts of what Lance might have been meaning evaporated. Keith shoved Lance away with a scowl, ‘I don't use anything Lance!’  
‘You've made that promise before and broken it. Now let me see...’  
‘Fine, if it will prove your smug ass wrong, look!’ and Keith leaned forward spreading his eye with two fingers for Lance to see.

Lance swallowed and saw that Keith was telling the truth. He could see the pale steel grey, almost purple of his iris was not taken up with dilated pupils that were an effect of psycho. 

‘Had enough?’ demanded Keith still staring at Lance with one eye. Lance mumbled something and turned away.

‘Didn't catch that,’ Keith was still bitter about Lance not believing him and couldn't keep it out of his voice.

‘Let's go see if Coran is still in one piece,’ Lance picked up his rifle from where it had fallen and jogged to where he had last seen the ghoul.

They didn't have to go far as Coran came bounding round a rock and threw himself at Lance.  
Lance froze at the sudden appearance and hug from the happy ghoul, but quickly returned the gesture with slightly wrinkled nose.

‘Oh, my dear boy thank you! If you hadn't taken out those ruffians I would have had to use my moves on them, and well the old bones aren't quite what they used to be!’ Coran pulled back from Lance and flexed his none existent muscles, ‘It’s a good thing you were in the vicinity!’

‘Yeah good thing,’ muttered Lance, wishing he could wash the smell of ghoul out of his jacket soon. He had no problems with Coran, in fact he kind of liked the guy. He had just never been a fan of the slight, rotting flesh odour that followed a ghoul.

‘Ah I think I should offer my thanks to you too young man,’ Coran beamed happily when he saw Keith sidle up beside Lance.

‘Err Keith's not one for hugs,’ said Lance quickly putting himself between them as Coran opened his arms for another hug and Keith took a step back.

‘Ah no worries I'm sure I can find a way to repay your kindness,’ Coran twirled his moustache, and both Lance and Keith wondered how it stayed attached to his face.

Coran snapped his fingers ‘I know! Why don't you come meet the princes? I'm sure some visitors will do her good. Get to know the locals and all that.’

Lance eyed one of the bodies of the bandits with a cough and a look at Coran, ‘well maybe not all the locals round here.’ 

Corans moustache seemed to wilt as he followed Lance’s gaze, ‘so much has changed. I don't know how princess will take this change. It was hard for her to first accept me so I don't know how all this,’ and he waved a hand around him, ‘will affect her...’

‘Oh, I'm sure she will be just fine’ Lance patted Coran's shoulder carefully, ‘don't worry, we won't tell her any scary wasteland stories. Right Keith?’

‘Uh ok sure,’ Keith shrugged. He still wasn't fully convinced that Coran wasn't some kooky old ghoul who had slightly lost it the way he kept talking about this princess.

‘Lead the way Coran!’ Lance declared and they set off after the ghoul, weaving in and out of the rocks, leaving the bloody mess of their battle behind them.

\---

‘Wow would never have known this place was here!’ whistled Lance looking about the massive cavern they were in. The entrance to which had been hidden behind a crack in the cliff wall that couldn't be seen unless coming at it from a certain angle.

‘Oh, this is nothing! Wait till you see the inside!’ said Coran proudly walking up to a rock wall.

‘Inside of what?’ Whispered Keith and Lance just shrugged. 

‘Humour him will ya? Poor guys probably lost it out here on his own…’ Lance was cut off by a slow deep rumbling sound.

The wall Coran was standing in front of was moving.

‘Holy shit. Is that a vault?’ Lance yelped.

Coran nodded proudly as the a round metal sealed doorway appeared. He pulled a key card and small device from somewhere and typed in a code in the small panel just before the door. 

‘Alfor wanted to keep this place secret when it was built. He had a lot of enemies back then, they would not have been pleased to see this.’

‘Whose Alfor?’ Lance was still gaping at the now clear vault door. He had heard of these places. Safe havens from the bombs and built to last forever. They were a treasure hunters’ gold mine if found in working order. Lance shook his head, he wasn't that sort of person. He wouldn't take something this fancy from someone even if they were a ghoul.

‘Alfor is the princess's father of course! He built this place specially for her if the need arose, and sadly it did,’ Coran looked sad as he turned the key and the vaults door with a hiss of pneumatics swung in and away.

‘Follow me then,’ said Coran and he hopped over the lip of the doorway and started making his way inside.

Before Lance could follow, he was pulled back by Keith’s hand on his arm, ‘Hey Lance hold up a sec. What about the others? The note I left with Pidge said we were helping out this guy and that we needed backup. What if they come here and, I don't know, some pre-war security system is set off and they get blasted?’ Keith looked worried as he held Lance’s arm.

‘Don’t worry I Coran’s a good guy, little kooky but ok. We weren't shot after all, were we?’  
Keith grip on Lance's arm did not loosen, ‘That could have been because we were with him,’ he hissed.

‘Ok ok, keep your mullet on. I’ll ask,’ Lance turned and called out his voice echoing round the room, ‘Yo Coran! You got any weird security systems we should know about? Some friends of ours might come looking for us...’ Coran’s head popped back into view.

‘Hum can't say that there are any still active out there save the cameras. Who else is coming?’  
Ignoring Keith's hisses to not give away that info Lance replied, ‘well it could be Hunk and Pidge, don't know if the other guy is up for a rescue mission.’

‘Well the security cameras will let me know if there in the area and I’ll let them in. Any friend of the men who saved my rotting hide is a friend of mine!’

‘Way to go Lance, you just told him everything!’ Keith hissed again, his grip tightening on Lance’s arm.

‘Keith I've told you, Coran isn't someone you need to worry about. Now let's get going, I want to see the inside of that vault!’ Lance tugged his arm out of Keith’s grip and all but sprinted after Coran. Keith followed, grumbling about how it wasn't safe and the others would be in trouble etc. 

The wheel door ground closed behind them with a finality that set Keith’s hair on end. Conan sauntered ahead down the shiny corridors as Lance looked around him in awe. Keith counted his steps and made a mental map of the place so he would know the quickest way out.

‘Oh my god, is that a swimming pool!’ Lance squashed his nose up against a small line of windows.

‘Oh yes, Alfor wanted his daughter to have the best of everything when she woke up.’

‘Hey Coran, what do you mean by ‘woke up’?’ Keith asked, leaning around Lance as he continued to stare in disbelief at the large Olympic sized swimming pool through the windows.

‘Oh, didn't I mention?’ Coran turned to look at Keith quizzically, ‘the princess has been asleep for the last 200 years or so,’ he did a quick count on his fingers and gave up, ‘can't keep track of all these years, not enough fingers.’  
Keith uh-huhed and pulled Lance from the window to follow Coran again.

They reached a doorway and Coran knocked politely and called ‘Princess? I'm back, I also have a few friends with me I think you would like to meet.’  
There was no reply except for an odd squeaking.

‘Princess? Is someone in there with you?’ Coran pressed the doors release.

As the door slid open there was a shout of, ‘No wait!’ 

A huge mole rat leapt through the open door knocking Coran flat on his back. Keith and Lance both had their weapons ready in their hands, but hesitated when Coran started laughing and shoved the creature off him.

A young woman stood in the doorway and started to scold the mole rat, ‘What have I told you! You shouldn’t jump up on people. You are too big for that! What if you hurt him!’

The mole rat actually looked ashamed as it hung its head and shuffled about, nudging her legs. 

‘Oh, I know you didn't mean it. But don't do it again,’ the woman said firmly.

Finally, she looked up and acknowledged Keith and Lance standing weapons drawn and ready and a hint of fear crept into her voice, ‘Coran? Who are these people?’

Coran who had dusted himself down and straightened his clothes beamed a cheerful smile at her.  
‘This is Lance and Keith! They live nearby and lent a hand in subduing some ruffians earlier, I felt some rewards were in order and offered to show them around. Also, I thought you might like some company, get to meet new people and all that.’

‘Coran that's very sweet of you, but-’

‘No buts princess! I promised your father I would look after you and I shall. Social entertainment isn't what it used to be I'm afraid, so we will have to make do. I believe some of their friends are coming by later so I'm going to prepare a nice big meal for you all later!’ Coran spun on his heel and strode down a corridor humming happily to himself

‘Hope you brought your own food… Coran’s cooking can be a bit … different,’ the woman smiled nervously at the two men, who still were holding their weapons. ‘Can… can you put those away? They make me nervous.’

Lance and Keith shared a look and lowered their weapons. 

‘So, your Coran’s princess?’ asked Lance with a casual smile 

‘I’m Allura. Nice to meet you, Lance, was it?’  
Lance shook her hand after a brief glance down at the mole rat, that was sitting by her side.

‘Oh, don't worry about him. They are harmless’  
‘They?’ Keith piped up  
‘Oh yes, there are four. But this one here,’ and Allura knelt and actually cupped the things cheeks in her hands, ‘he's the biggest, the others are around here somewhere. Please don't hurt them,’ and she looked imploringly at them. They couldn't say no to a face like that.

‘Don't worry princess! We won't hurt a hair...err … a whisker on their heads.’

‘Thank you!’ and Allura beamed and Lance grinned back.

‘So how about a tour of your castle princess?’ and Lance held out his arm. Allura looped her hand round his elbow and lead him down the corridor pointing out various things here and there. The mole rat trotted along behind. Keith felt a small twinge of jealousy in his chest but shoved it aside, and trailed after them, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

\--

Sometime later Coran’s voice called over the speakers saying that Hunk and company had arrived and could they all meet up in the vaults door room. 

Coran was waiting for them as they walked into the room. The door was still shut but with a few flicks of switches and pressing of buttons there was a deep rumbling noise and the door finally swung open.

Hunk, Pidge and oddly Shiro, who was being carried by Pidge, all stood mouths open, Pidge was still in her Power armour suit but her reaction of awe could be felt through it.

‘Hey!’ Lance called waving his hands above his head and grinning like an idiot.

The three new comers were hesitant at first but after Lance calling out to them, ‘this place is awesome!’ they hopped inside the vault.

‘Wow Coran, didn't know you had a place like this up your sleeve,’ Hunk gave a whistle as he looked around him, taking in all the electronics and pipes and wires that fitted snugly to the walls.

‘Well you never asked! But always good to see someone have an eye of appreciation for the mechanics,’ Coran clapped a hand on Hunks shoulder and began to lead them out of the vault door room.

‘Um Coran? Could you introduce me to your friends?’ Allura was beginning to show signs of anxiety. Especially as Pidge stomped into view, and all but towered over her. Shiro had insisted he walk as they entered the vault. 

‘Let me princess,’ Lance gave a theatrical bow and swept his hand out before him pointing at each person in turn.  
‘Everyone this is Allura. The large lovable man with Coran is Hunk, the somewhat battered man by the power armour is Shiro and the one in the power armour is Pidge,’ Lance frowned at Pidge,  
‘you can come out of there you know. She's not going to bite.’

With a little grumbling Pidge emerged, looking very haggard, dark circles under her eyes and looking more than a little pale. The bruise on her jaw, a greenish black, just added to her unwell appearance. 

‘Wow Pidge, Hunk give you his hangover cure?’

‘Yeah it tasted like turret grease,’ Pidge hopped down and winced at the bright lights in the room.  
‘Good thing we found this place when we did, there's a rad storm brewing and I don't think Shiro and Hunk would have done well in it.’

Shiro ducked his head at the sound of his name and muttered how he would have been fine.

‘No, you wouldn't. Look at you! I had to carry you half the way here ‘because you couldn’t keep up!’ Pidge scolded poking him in the side as emphasis.

Allura who had been quiet up till then gave a small gasp. She had noticed Shiro's missing arm and healing face. 

She looked horrified as she rushed to his side, ‘What happened?’ her hands fluttered over his arm and Pidge felt a flare of annoyance. Who was this person to suddenly try and show sympathy, this woman didn’t even know Shiro. She butted in before Shiro could reply, ‘super mutants took his arm as a tasty snack.’

She had some satisfaction as Allura's face paled under her dark skin.

‘Pidge!’ Lance snapped putting a protective arm around Allura's shoulders, ‘watch it! She's sensitive,’ 

Pidge scoffed and rolled her eyes ‘she's going to have to toughen up, if she can't handle the news that super mutants like to eat- JESUS CHRIST MOLE RAT!’

Pidge practically scrambled up her armour at the sight of the large mole rat popping its head around Alluras long floor length dress.

Lance and Keith burst into laughter at the sight of her perched precariously atop the armoured suit. Even Allura giggled behind her hand. 

‘Hey Pidge meet Chunky,’ laughed Lance pointing to the mole rat as it scratched behind its head.

‘You're seriously going to call him Chunky?’ Allura didn't sound that impressed.

‘Lance your naming sucks,’ groaned Keith.  
‘Are all of you out of your minds?’ yelled Pidge, ‘There is a huge mole rat right there and you're talking about it like it's a… a pet!’

‘Well it is! Just look at those chubby cheeks,’ and Lance made baby noises at the thing as it blinked up at him, nose twitching.

‘You've definitely lost it Lance,’ grumbled Pidge.

She refused to budge from her high vantage point even when Shiro gave the giant rodent a pat on its head. They eventually gave up trying to tempt her down when Coran called over the coms that dinner was ready, and Hunk’s voice butted in saying that it would be edible. There was a sound of scuffling over the com before it cut out.

‘Pidge you have to come down eventually,’ said Keith.

‘I'm not listening to you Keith. You let me drink ghoul moonshine’

‘I did try to stop you!’

Pidge humphed and turned her back to them, the headache that Hunk’s cure had lessened was starting to creep back along with the nausea, ‘I’ll join you guys later... I have to... Ugh... um Allura? Where's the bathrooms…’

‘Down that hall on you left.’

‘Thanks…’ Pidge slid down the armour, took a wide berth around the mole rat that looked about the same size as her, and bolted for the bathrooms.

‘Hope she makes it in time…‘ muttered Lance. 

‘What happened to her?’ Allura looked concerned as she guided Lance to the food court with Keith trailing behind.

‘She got into a drinking competition with a ghoul bartender and got wasted,’ grumbled Keith.

‘But... surely she is not legal to drink at her age!’ Allura was shocked ‘how could you allow a child to drink!’

Lance couldn't stop from bursting into laughter at the sight of her affronted face. Shiro shook his head and sighed, muttering under his breath about how irresponsible they had been by letting Pidge get herself into such a state. Keith felt guilty as he had not been able to stop her drinking in the first place.

‘Pidge… oh god... You wouldn't be able to stop her if you tried. She wants something she will get it. And as for this legal age thing… She's more than old enough from the pre-war days when it was a thing,’ Lance wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

‘But she is just a child!’ 

‘Allura she's twenty-two, considering what it's like out there that's a good age to get to,’ Lance placed a hand on hers, ‘The world has changed a lot.’

Keith watched this exchange and felt a tightening in his chest. He hadn't seen Lance look and speak so calmly and sincerely to someone he had just met before.  
Clearing his throat startling them he asked, ‘Where's the food hall?’

‘This way,’ and Allura lead them down the corridors to a large room with a long table in the centre. Coran and Hunk had already laid out the table with mounds of food that gave off an enticing smell.

\---

They all sat down to eat, even the mole rat had its own bowl on the floor. Next to three others.  
Halfway through the meal they heard a scream and Pidge came flying through to door, pursued by three other mole rats. 

Shiro at the first sound of the scream had jumped up gripping his spork like his life depended on it, white faced and shaking. Being the closest to the door also meant he was the person Pidge collided into. The force of her running, and hitting him, sent them both tumbling over the table top in a mess of plates and food.

The mole rats squealed happily and started eating up the fallen food.

‘Allura they are going to spoil their appetites!’ grumbled Coran and tried to shoo them away by waving his napkin at them, they ignored him and napkin. Pidge was shaking and curled up in a ball next to Shiro, one hand clenched in the fabric of his shirt, covered in food.

‘Pidge it's ok they won't eat you,’ laughed Lance.  
Shiro shot him a stern look and carefully levered himself up on his one arm.

‘Pidge? You ok?’ he shook her shoulder gently and then pried her hand from his shirt.  
Pidge sat up but kept her knees firmly tucked under her chin, and eyed the squeaking rodents as Coran flapped about them.

Shiro looked between Pidge and the rodents, ‘You scared of mole rats?’  
Pidge’s furrowed brows and silence answered the question. With a sigh Shiro climbed off the table, and wiped the worst of the food off his shirt.

‘Any chance of showers round here?’  
Allura stood up and beamed at Shiro a little too brightly, ‘Yes we have some just off the pool side or there's the lockers by the gym. There might still be some clothes stored there.’

‘I’ll try the gym first thanks. Err which way is it?’

‘I will show you,’ before Allura could leave Lance piped up.  
‘Are we allowed in the pool?’

Allura shot him a puzzled look, ‘of course you are, just have a shower before you go in. You’re filthy.’ and she left with Shiro.

‘Yes, all right! Keith, you with me?’ Lance didn't wait for an answer as he grabbed Keith by the wrist and marched off towards the pool area.  
Keith didn't look too happy about the idea of swimming.

That left Pidge, Hunk, Coran and four squeaking mole rats. 

Hunk took pity on Pidge and went over to her. She had her eyes fixed on the rodents who had cleaned up the food and were now sniffing about for more.

‘Pidge, Coran’s going to show me around the generator room and a few other things, want to join? The mole rats aren't allowed in those places,’ Hunk gave her a small pat on the head and ruffled her hair.

Pidge gave a small nod and unfolded her skinny legs and arms, she hopped off the table and froze when one of the mole rats came a little too close. It sniffed about her feet and then her shirt. Pidge looked ready to run when it licked off some of the food stuck to her shirt. She quickly joined Coran and Hunk waiting by the door.

‘See they aren’t so bad’ said Hunk.

Pidge shot him the nastiest look she could muster while pale and shaking from nerves and a hangover, ‘Whatever let’s just go see this generator.’

Coran and Hunk both chuckled as they walked deeper into the vault. 

The mole rats now alone, hopped up onto the table and cleaned up the scraps.


	9. memories and swimming lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> memories can be a double edged sword for some people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, I have had a really tough time writing this chapter... and then i put off uploading it for a while... and life kicked my butt...  
> but despite all that i hope you guys enjoy it.

Pidge followed the two men deeper into the vault, a steady hum of machinery thrummed through the walls. Coran stopped once they reached a large metal bolted door with a large circular spin handle in the centre, and proudly struck a pose in front of it, his moustache twitching as he grinned.

‘Well here we are!’

Pidge and Hunk looked about confused.   
Pidge raised her hand, ‘Um Coran… what exactly are we looking at?’  
‘Hold your radstags and I will show you!’ Coran chirped excitedly turning back to the door and grasped the handle. He then proceeded to wheeze and grunt for a few minutes trying to turn it.

‘Uh Coran… you need a little help?’ asked Pidge.  
‘No! No, I’m good. It's just a little stiff is all,’ Coran grunted yanking on the wheel.

Pidge gave a despairing look up at Hunk who shrugged and walked up to Coran.

‘Hunk there's no need I think I've almost got it,’ wheezed Coran practically hanging off the handle.

‘Two is always better than one,’ said Hunk with a smile, and with that he put one hand on the handle and spun it like it was nothing.

Coran picked himself up off the floor, dusting and straightening his clothes. ‘I must have loosened it up for you,’ he muttered. ‘Anyway, follow me!’ and he set off at a brisk pace. Hunk easily kept up but Pidge had to jog.

All around them the steady humming of machinery grew louder, and when they passed a large open room with several metal pillars that shot off dancing arcs of lightning between each other 

Pidge gasped in amazement.  
‘Coran! This place is amazing! How's it still functioning after so long?’ she turned bright eyes to the ghoul who paused to stroke his moustache thoughtfully.

‘Well we were very meticulous when we built this place, didn't know how long we might be down here so built it to last!’ he gave the wall an affectionate pat ‘and last she has!’ he turned and beamed at Pidge, pleased someone could see the beauty of this vault.

Hunk was nodding and admiring the network of pipes and cables that ran across the roof, ‘So how are you powering this whole place? It seems a lot more extravagant than what I hear other vaults are like.’

Coran snapped his fingers and pointed down a passageway, ‘this way to the real gem of the vault,’ then in a mock whisper, ‘please don't tell Allura I said that, don't want to hurt the princess's feelings.’

Hunk chuckled and shook his head, ‘wouldn't dream of it.’  
Pidge grinned and followed them down the passageway.

They stepped out onto a metal walk way and were stunned into silence. Before them was a massive generator, cylinders and pistons worked none stop and pipes leading to and from it. A deep hum resounded round the chamber they were in. Finally, Hunk found his voice.

‘Holy crow Coran what is that beast? I've never seen or heard of something like that!’

‘I shouldn't think you would have, that there is the only one of its kind that survived the war, and there were only 2 others like it ever built!’ Coran waved a hand over the railing, ‘my grandfather helped build this one and it could run for 10,000 years and not stop!’

Pidge shot a look that she didn't quite believe Coran’s boast. She lent her chin on the railings and gazed longingly at the machine, her fingers were itching to get a closer look. Hunk noticed her twitchiness, recognising the same desperate want to figure out how something new worked. He clapped a large hand on her shoulder and grinned.

‘I'm sure Coran will let us have a look around… as long as we don't unplug anything important.’ he looked at Coran who nodded and twirled his moustache.

‘Well I can't let you at the reactor proper but I have a lab with plenty of schematics and prototypes and parts that you can fiddle with to your hearts content.’

He lead the way to the lab, Pidge practically bouncing along the catwalk with excitement.

\---

Shiro and Allura walked down the hallways to the gym changing area, Allura pointing out various rooms they passed and what they would have been used for, until they came to a doorway, that Allura opened with a tap of a panel. 

The room beyond looked like a changing room of sorts. Metal lockers lined the walls and there was a row of benches in the centre. A doorway off to the side, lead to a few curtained changing booths and showers and then what Shiro assumed was the gym beyond. 

There was a large sign for the showers and a warning hot water and don’t waste it sign stuck to the side of the doorway. There was also a small desk in the corner of the main room that had an alcove behind it. Allura walked over to the desk and flipped the counter door over and ducked into the alcove. She returned with an armful of clothing.

‘See if anything fits, there's plenty more back there,’ Allura dumped the material on the desk and leant on her elbows, chin resting on hands.  
Shiro gave a small smile and picked up one other shirts. It was far too small, he shifted through what Allura had brought through but didn't find anything that looked like it would fit.

‘Anything bigger back there? Also, those showers work?’ Shiro jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the shower sign.

‘I think so? I've not been in this area much and haven't tried those showers yet, but the one in my quarters works fine!’ Allura said brightly.

Shiro nodded and headed to the showers. He found a pile of towels on a bench and grabbed up a few, tossing them over the top of shower stall door. Allura busied herself with finding something to fit Shiro, doing her best not to imagine what he looked like under his shirt.

When Shiro finished his shower, he wrapped a towel round his waist and dried off his hair with the other. Allura nearly dropped the armful of things she had picked out when he walked back into the locker room. 

With a bright red face, she shoved the armful of clothing at him and did her best to look away from his bare scarred chest. Shiro fumbled with the sudden amount of clothes thrust at his chest. He still wasn't fully used to having one working arm. He dropped a few shirts as they slid off the pile.

‘Oh, I'm sorry Shiro!’ Allura steadied the pile of clothing but kept her gaze averted.  
Shiro noticed her flustered face and chuckled warmly.  
‘Allura it's fine, I should be saying sorry you probably aren't used to this, if what Coran says is true,’ he put the bundle of clothes down on a bench and started sorting through them 

After a few minutes of silence Allura asked, ‘What’s it like out there now?’  
Shiro paused then straightened up with a shirt and pair of trousers in his hand.

‘it’s like hell on earth some days, but there is some good still left’ he said quietly, and rubbing his stump arm absentmindedly.

‘Can you still see the stars at night?’ asked Allura sounding hopeful.

Shiro gave a small bitter chuckle, ‘the stars are as bright as they will ever be.’

Allura looked down at her hands, ‘I always loved the stars. Father used to take me to where the smog wasn’t too bad, sometimes I could even make out the milky way,’ she quietly trailed off.

Shiro looked over at her. She was lost in memories of a more peaceful time. Shiro felt like he was barging in on a private moment so he left her to change into the new cloths, taking a few spare in case they didn’t quite fit. 

He had only been gone a briefly when Allura heard a loud crash and shattering of glass. She rushed through to the changing cubicles to find Shiro on his knees surrounded by broken mirror. He had changed into the new clothes but in his left hand he clutched one of the shirts. Blood welled up from cut knuckles and soaked into the shirt, blending in with the black and purple design on it.

‘Shiro? What’s wrong?’ Allura hung back, unsure of what had occurred and what she could do.

‘I… recognise this,’ he hissed through gritted teeth.  
‘What?’ Allura was confused and beginning to wish she had brought another person along with her.  
‘This!’ and Shiro thrust the shirt at her.  
The blood from the cuts on his hand had dyed part of the purple insignia red but Allura recognised it.  
‘The Galra insignia? Why would you remember that? They must have been wiped out when the bombs hit!’  
Shiro shook his head and grabbed Allura’s arm, not caring as the blood soaked into her dresses fabric.  
‘They were there! They… they took them!’  
‘Shiro let go! You need to calm down. Think clearly!’  
Shiro was shaking Allura now, any sense of self control gone, ‘What do you know about them?!’  
Allura finally had enough.  
With a well-practiced movement, she twisted round and threw Shiro onto his back. In shock, he stared up at the ceiling as Allura loomed over him with a mixed expression of concern for his wellbeing and worry about what he would do next.

‘Shiro I think you should take a breath and clear your mind. I’m sorry I threw you but-’ Allura didn’t get a chance to finish her lecture as Shiro scrambled to his feet.  
‘I need to find Pidge,’ was all he said before bolting from the room with Allura’s calls echoing after him.

\-----

Earlier and elsewhere in the vault Lance was tugging at Keith arm, dragging him down the corridors, ignoring the man's protests. They reached the pool doors and Lance waited impatiently for them to slide open, jogging on the spot in his excitement. The door parted with a hiss and a waft of chlorine greeted them.

‘Lance I really don't want to... Urk!’ Keith was dragged after Lance as he marched through the door as towards the changing rooms to one side.

‘Oh, man this is gonna be great. I haven't swum in ages! And this is clean water! No rads!’ Lance couldn't keep the bubbling excitement from his voice, or the large grin of excitement that reached his eyes.

Keith didn't say anything, he didn't want to spoil this moment for Lance, he could see how excited the taller man was. Keith looked away from Lance’s glowing face, that was transfixed by the still pool water they were walking past, and worried at his lower lip. What would Lance say when he found out.

-

Lance didn't seem to notice how quiet Keith had become as they made it to the changing room. There was a row of lockers against one wall and a line of clothes hooks and a shelf piled with towels on the other. Another doorway to the left of them lead to the showers.

‘As much as I would love to just jump right in I think I agree with Allura. I need a shower first,’ Lance glanced down and realised he was still holding Keith's arm, he let his grip loosen and Keith pulled his arm away.  
‘What are you going to swim in anyway?’ Keith asked, he was chewing his lip again, not meeting Lance's eyes.

Lance shrugged, ‘well Allura said there should be stuff in here so let's have a nosy.’  
Keith hesitantly gave a small nod before following Lance to the line of lockers and looking through them.

‘Hey found some trunks… I think.’   
Lance looked up and saw Keith holding a huge pair of bright orange swimming trunks. A shocked snort of laughter burst from him as he imagined what sort of person would wear those.

‘Keith I think those would even leave Hunk with room to spare!’ Lance rocked back on his heels in laughter, holding onto the locker for balance.   
Keith gave a small amused smile and tossed the trunks aside and checked a few more lockers.

Eventually they had a small pile of swimming outfits that looked like they would fit.  
‘Right Keith take your pick. I’m having these ones!’ Lance grabbed up a dark blue pair of trunks with a white stripe down the side.

Keith didn't make any move to pick one.  
‘Keith? You need to choose something, Allura may be sweet and all but I don't think she would like you swimming about in your underwear,’ Lance picked up a red pair of trunks and held them out for Keith. 

Keith was avoided Lance's eyes as he took the offered trunks. Lance frowned briefly at Keith's lack of enthusiasm and then grinned, ‘if you’re that fussed about your body why not wear the wetsuit we found? Worried Allura may walk in and go blind from that pale skin of yours?’  
Keith shot an annoyed look at Lance, ‘I'm not wearing that thing, and I'm not that pale!’  
Lance snorted, ‘please, between you and Pidge it's like staring at a glowing one bathing in a rad bath.’  
Keith frowned at Lance and clenched the red fabric tightly in his hands and looked away, his fringe hiding his eyes. Lance cocked his head waiting for Keith to say something, but when the silence stretched on he gave up.

‘Well see you in the showers,’ Lance snagged a towel and headed for the shower stalls, leaving Keith in the locker room.

Lance tugged his shirt over his head and grimaced as he held it up. The thing was splattered with blood. Nothing new but after seeing how pristine everything was around him he had become a little self-conscious of how filthy he was.  
He glanced up when Keith walked in and sat on a bench to tug off his mud caked boots.  
He still wasn't meeting Lance's eyes, Lance noticed his hands were trembling slightly as he fumbled to unlace his boots.

‘Keith? Everything all right buddy?’  
‘I'm fine Lance.’  
Lance wasn't convinced and walked over to where Keith sat. With his hands-on hips, he leaned over the man and forced him to look up.  
‘Keith you're acting weird, weirder than usual. What’s up?’

Keith looked up and met Lance’s blue eyes. Lance was surprised by the thinly veiled fear he saw in Keith’s grey eyes.

‘Keith?’ Lance knelt in front of him and gripped his trembling hands, ‘are you ok? You need me to get Hunk?’  
Keith shook his head and drew in a shaky breath. ‘I… I can't swim’  
Lance looked blankly at Keith, ‘What?’  
Keith looked directly at Lance and spoke each word stiff and strained. ‘I. Can’t. Swim. Lance.’  
‘That's it?’  
It was Keith's turn to look blank.

Lance stood up and laughed, ‘jeez Keith don't scare me like that, if it's just the swimming don't worry about that. I’ll teach you.’  
Keith shook his head. There was more to his excuse of not swimming but he wasn't ready to share it with Lance just then.

‘Come on Keith, have a shower, god knows you need one. It will help you relax,’ Lance reached into one of the cubicles and turned a tap and squealed excitedly as a jet of water shot from the showerhead, ‘Oh my god they have hot water, this is amazing!’  
Lance stripped off his remaining clothes and jumped into the shower, slamming the cubicle door shut behind him.

He heard Keith step into the shower next door to him and could see his outline through the opaque glass.

Lance looked down at his feet as he let the warm water wash over him, letting the warmth soak into his skin and joints. He couldn't remember the last time he had had a hot shower. Back home growing up they had heated up buckets of water and poured it into an old chipped porcelain bathtub, the eldest child in the family got the first wash and by the time it reached Lance the water was luke warm and grimy at best. Still didn't stop his mother scrubbing behind his ears.   
Dirt and dried blood married the once clean water as it poured over him, draining away into the grating that ran along the floor. Lance stood under the water until it ran clear about his feet.

Wrapping the towel round his waist he went to put on his trunks. The squeak of a door opening behind him caught his attention.

Keith’s long dark hair was plastered to his face and neck, still dripping wet. His bare chest was crisscrossed with several silvery scars and there was a small patch of pale knotted skin sitting just above his hip where the towel ended. Several old gunshot wounds, pale silver, and pink circles, peppered his torso and arms. Keith raked his hair back and squeezed the water out of it.

Lance swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away. Despite working together for a few years, he had never realised just how many scars Keith had. Also, how toned the other man's body was. Lance hastily pulled his trunks on under the towel before grabbing up a new dry one and heading over to Keith.

‘Meet you in the pool,’ was all he could say, Lance did his best to keep his eyes from wondering over Keith, and fixed them on the pool ahead.

He dived in as soon as he reached its edge. The water was cool but not cold and Lance swam lazily on his back, watching the rippling reflections dance across the ceiling. Lance closed his eyes and just floated there. The sounds around him dulled by the water covering his ears.  
His thoughts drifted back to Keith, how he had said he couldn't swim. But the fear in his eyes had hinted at more than that. Lance knew Keith was hiding something from him, he just wasn't sure what. His mind flickered back to Keith stepping out the shower, dark hair trailing over his face and neck. Lance let out a breath and sunk under the water, its cooling kiss stung his warming cheeks. Why was he thinking like this, it was no big deal right. Unbidden the memory of them sitting in the lookout hut atop the farm house flickered through his mind, how close Keith had been to him then.  
Had it been more than just comfort he had needed back then... 

Lance felt himself settle on the tiled floor and blew out a small stream of bubbles, watching as they danced away from him to burst on the surface. When his lungs began to burn for air he pushed off the floor. He broke the surface with a gasp, sucking down fresh air gratefully. He noticed Keith sitting cross legged by the shallow ends steps. With ease Lance glided through the water towards him. He leaned his chin on his arms and grinned up at Keith.

‘Come on in the water's lovely.’  
Keith frowned and didn't move.   
‘Come on Keith it's not deep look,’ and Lance stood up the water, this end barely reached his waist.  
‘Lance I still don't think-’ Keith was cut off as Lance took both his hands firmly but gently in his own.  
‘Whatever it is you're scared about, don’t worry. I'm here,’ Lance flashed Keith a confident smile ‘besides I've had plenty of practice teaching how to swim.’  
‘Who else you teach?’ Keith asked, curious.  
‘Oh, my little sisters and brother,’ Lance laughed as he remembered them, flailing about despite the lake only being ankle deep. 

Ever so slowly Lance moved back. Still holding Keith's hands, making him follow Lance into the water.

\--

Keith flinched when the water sloshed around his ankles. The cool water made his skin tingle, but the comforting warmth of Lance’s hands in his and his smile kept Keith from bolting. He trusted Lance and as he made his way into the water keeping his eyes fixed firmly on Lance’s and he began to enjoy the feel of weightlessness. The underlying fear still lingered but it was buried under the bubbling excitement he could feel. Lance grinned as Keith started to relax.

‘See told you this was easy...’  
Keith just grinned in reply. When they were up to their chests in the water Lance shot Keith a confident grin, ‘Ok, so first part is done, got you in the water. Now second part, floating.’

Keith felt his barely contained panic begin to rise, ‘Lance I think this is good enough.’  
‘I told you I would teach you to swim so I’m going to teach you to swim.’  
Keith’s grip tightened slightly on Lance’s hands, ‘I don’t think I can do this,’ he quietly hissed through his teeth.

‘Keith. It’s ok. I’ve got you,’ Lance’s voice was calm and when Keith looked up he saw his friend’s blue eyes filled with confidence and concern. He wouldn’t let anything happen, he would be there beside him the whole time.

Keith drew in a shaky breath, and nodded. He had to get over this, it was just another challenge he had to face.   
Lance smiled reassuringly, ‘ok you’re going to have to lie back in the water. Don’t worry!’ he added as he saw panic flash in Keith’s eyes, ‘I will keep your head out the water.’

Keith, with more than a little hesitation, eventually found himself floating on his back, Lance had his hand behind Keith's head, nestled in the long black hair that trailed about, and one just between his shoulder blades. Keith watched the water reflections dancing on the ceiling above him and smiled. This wasn't as bad as he thought. The cool water was a comfort not a torture. He wasn’t in constant fear of being dragged under the water or being forced under. Lance’s hands kept him safe.

A mop of messy damp short hair leaned over him blocking his view, ‘how you doing?’ Lance flashed a grin at him, white teeth in sharp contrast to his tan skin. A few droplets of water dripped onto Keith’s cheeks from the man’s hair above him.

Keith gave a small smile, ‘it's not so bad,’ he murmured, his eyes tracked a trickle of water that ran down the side of Lance's face and welled up on the tip of his chin, it plopped down on Keith's forehead. It was warm from Lance’s skin.

-

Lance kept his hands-on Keith’s head and back, keeping his head out of the water and back supported so he wouldn’t sink. He watched as Keith moved his hands back and forth trailing them through the water. They weren't balled up into fists anymore or clawing at Lance's arms in fear. Keith had finally relaxed.

Lances gaze flickered down at Keith's face and felt his breath catch. Keith grey eyes were locked on his, wide and trusting. Lance felt something shift in his chest at the sight of Keith’s eyes on him. Lance tried to look away but found his gaze caught by Keith’s chapped lips, and he was sure Keith was biting the inside of his lip by the way it pinched in a corner. His eyes flicked back to Keith's, the light from the pool distorting them to appear a pale purple.

Lance licked his suddenly dry lips, he could feel his face warming and his heart beat so hard in his chest he was surprised Keith didn't seem to notice.  
Keith was so close, his long hair trailing about Lances fingers, and while he wasn’t fully relaxed he was at the most ease Lance had seen in a long time. The hard frown lines smoothed away and his wide eyes on Lances made him look vulnerable.

Keith gave a small smile up at him and Lance felt his gut twist, and something warm crept through his chest at the sight of the smile.

 

‘You managing ok there Keith?’ Lance was glad his voice didn't betray the twisting in his gut.  
Keith hummed in reply and closed his eyes.

Lance watched him in silence for a few minutes. Once again, the memory of the day before came back to him. When they had been up on the lookout tower.   
Lance remembered leaning in towards Keith. He couldn't remember if he had done so for just the close comfort of Keith’s presence, or if it was something else that made him do it.

‘Um, Keith? I know we said we were good and all but, I… I just want to know if you're ok with yesterday.’  
Keith cracked open one eye and squinted up at Lance ‘it’s fine Lance’ he said a little too curtly ‘you were upset and just needed company’  
Lance swallowed the lump in his throat. Is that what Keith thought? Lance just needed company? But wasn’t that all it was? The twisting in Lance’s gut seemed to say otherwise.  
Keith spoke, in barely a whisper so Lance almost missed it ‘I didn’t mind it’ and he looked up at Lance, his eyes wide, challenging Lance to say otherwise.

Lance didn't know why he did it, it could have been the hidden challenge in that look that he couldn't back down from, or something else.

Slowly, Lance leaned down, bending over slightly, and closer to Keith. Keith’s eyes widened as Lance came closer, his hands stilling in the water and his body tensing up. 

Lance's lips brushed Keith’s, dry and chapped lips, which tasted slightly of chlorine from the pool, it was awkward upside down, and Lance’s chin bumped into Keith's nose. Floating in the water with Lance holding him safe and kissing him softly.

Keith felt his body relax in a way that he had never experienced before. His hands floated up over his head and brushed against Lances sides settling on his wasp thin waist. Lance’s skin felt hot against his hands after the cool water around him. Lance broke the kiss and pulled away, his eyes were half lidded and lips parted. Keith let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. They stared at each other for a moment, letting what had just happened between them sink in.

And then Keith panicked.

He jerked out of Lance’s supporting hands and stumbled back on the slippery pool floor, flailing his arms to try and right himself, splashing Lance in the process.

Lance covered his eyes at the wave of water being splashed at him, ‘Keith! I… I didn't…’ Lance blinked water out of his eyes and saw where Keith was heading. ‘Keith! Don’t!’

Keith’s feet dropped out from under him and with a yelp he sunk like a rock under the water. In his frantic confusion, he had stepped into the deep end of the pool where the tiles sloped sharply down several meters. Keith inhaled a lungful of water and stars burst in front of his eyes, his chest and throat burned. He felt like his arms were being dragged down by chains. The water once cool and soothing now closed round him, pressing in on him and sapping his strength.

Keith kicked weakly, his feet not touching anything and his hands grasping desperately for the light flickering above him. Out of reach and slowly drifting away. He screamed, the last bubbles of air pouring out of his mouth in a rush as the water swallowed him, wrapping round his body like a shroud.

All the fears he had kept locked away came flooding back to him as darkness crept across his vision.   
He was ten again, in the cold dark cellar under the house, the deep metal tub with rust spots at the edges was filled with icy cold water, and stood in the centre of the dimly lit room.   
He looked down and saw his pale frightened face look back at him, eyes wide and trembling.  
He felt the strong grip of a hand on the back of his neck, shoving his face into the frigid water and holding him there. He was too weak to throw it off,  
He could just make out the muted beratement from a man, who stood by the stairs, his voice drifting and distorted through the water.   
This was punishment for something, what had he done? Why did he do it, ‘I’m sorry’ he thought, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, sorry! I won’t do it again!’  
It didn’t matter, the man didn’t care, he just wanted to make an example of him, break him, Keith was no use to him if he had a mind of his own still.

No matter how much Keith kicked and struggled, lashed out with his hands clawing at the invisible person's hand, it never loosened its grip on his neck. It kept his head under the icy water, until he thought his chest would burst.

The taste of sweet, stale, cellar air that stung his lungs when his neck was finally released, was a short-lived luxury, he was shoved back under the water before he could fully recover.

His head was yanked up again, coughing and eyes streaming he looked at the man by the stairs.

‘Keith my boy, you will never learn like that’ said the man by the stairs tutting.  
Keith would kill him, he would live through this nightmare and kill him one day.

His head felt light, his vision blurred and the room swayed about him. A darkness crept towards him, crawling over the edges of his sight, swallowing up the little light. Keith was falling into nothingness.

A sharp pain in his chest shot through him, shaking his thoughts loose.

 

‘...eith. Keith! Keith!’  
Someone was shouting in his ear.  
He felt something press against his lips, followed by a stinging pain in his chest.

Keith coughed out a mouthful of water and cracked his eyes open. Through the blurry haze, he saw he was still partially in the water. He kicked and flung his arms out, desperately trying to grab hold of anything to haul himself out and away from the body of water.

‘Shit Keith! I’ve got you! Hang on one sec!’ 

Keith felt cold dry floor under him and back peddled as fast as he could, legs splashing in the shallows. He felt Lance haul him out of the water and drag him away. His hands gripped Lance's arms with white knuckled fear. Lance said nothing, he held Keith against his chest leaning his back against the wall and waiting for Keith's racing heart, that he could feel over the trembling, to slow.

-

Lance's own heart was banging in his chest, seeing Keith slip below the water had been an unpleasant experience. His limp body when Lance pulled him up had been terrifying, chilling Lance to his core and making his stomach feel like he had been punched by a supermutant.

Lance held him close, Keith’s skin feeling cold and clammy against his own. His jet-black hair was plastered to his face and neck, standing out in sharp contrast to his pale blanched skin. His freckles stood out sharply on his arms and torso. Scars old and new glared painfully bright across his skin.

‘Keith it's ok, I've got you.’  
‘I was back there’ croaked Keith, his voice harsh in his burning throat. ‘I was back in that cellar. He was there. I thought…’

Lance didn't need to know who Keith was talking about. He had a good idea by now. From the small things Keith, had let slip over the years, Lance had pieced things together slowly. He hadn’t wanted to pry into his past, wanting Keith to tell him when he was ready.

‘You are safe Keith, he can't hurt you. He can't hurt you ever again.’  
Keith shuddered in Lance's arms and coughed harshly.

Lance hesitantly raised his hand and pressed it to the top of Keith’s head, gently smoothing the hair out of Keith’s eyes with his fingers.  
‘You don't have to worry about Mr M again. He’s gone. You are safe. I won't let that happen ever again.’

Keith slowly felt the tension in his body fade away as Lance stroked his hair, running his fingers through it and untangling knotted strands. 

They stayed like that for some time. Lance murmuring comforting words and running his fingers through Keith's hair soothingly. Keith leaning into Lance's chest for warmth and safe solid presence.

Keith’s shivering finally subsided, but he didn’t pull away from Lance. He felt safe, and even though the shock of what had happened was still fresh and raw in his mind, Lances comforting presence dulled the pain of memories.

Lance began to hum an old forgotten tune as he ran his fingers through Keith’s hair. Keith relaxed and leant into his chest, feeling the vibration of the song thrum through him.   
It was odd, he had survived years fighting for his survival alone, but here and now, he felt safe curled up against Lance, listening to a hummed song he didn’t know the words to.  
Keith looked up and saw lance had his eyes half shut, focused on the unsung words he hummed. 

Lance felt Keith’s eyes on him and glanced down, the hum pausing before a smile from Keith started it up again.  
Keith sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head against Lance's chest. He would have to talk to lance about what had happened, both the kiss and the panic, but right now, he was ok with this. It felt good.  
He didn’t want it to end.

**Author's Note:**

> this started off as a simple thing when I saw a bit of art work http://l1ng.tumblr.com/post/150183869931/voltron-fallout-au-got-very-carried-away  
> and it has since spiraled way beyond that.


End file.
